PETALING JAYA: A total of 220 "sextortion" cases have been reported in Selangor between Jan 1 and June 30 this year, says Comm Datuk Arjunaidi Mohamed (pic).

       The Selangor police chief said such cases involved victims being extorted for money in exchange for their obscene videos not being distributed.

       "29 cases involved individuals who the victims know such as ex-husbands and ex-boyfriends while 137 cases involved those not known to the victims. 54 cases involved syndicates who fooled victims into sharing embarrassing videos or pictures of themselves," he said.

       Comm Arjunaidi added in a statement on Friday (July 23) that both men and women were targeted.

       "The syndicate would use applications that would make it easy to communicate with the victims.

       The victims would be fooled into stripping down and performing obscene acts and the syndicate would record it,” he said.

       "They would then force the victims into paying them certain amounts in exchange for not spreading the videos or photos," added Comm Arjunaidi.

       Comm Arjunaidi said losses suffered by each victim ranged from RM3,000 to RM50,000.

       "The suspects would use local and foreign bank accounts for their transactions. In terms of communicating with the victims, the culprits would use various social media and messaging applications," he said.

       Comm Arjunaidi reminded the public to refrain from performing obscene acts online as it would come back to haunt them.