John Culatto
GETTING a message from an unlikely admirer on social media could lead to a lot more pain than pleasure, police have warned.
Known as ‘sextortion’, an anonymous message could lead you to being blackmailed for thousands of pounds.
This is the warning of the RGP as part of the Safer Internet Day 2021, which also examined business fraud.
In this scheme, unwitting victims might be lured into performing sexual acts on their phones.
Once these have been recorded by blackmailers, they then threaten to send them to all of their contacts.
This blackmail could be never-ending so the best thing is to not go down that path in the beginning.
The RGP have therefore asked social media users not to accept friendship requests from complete strangers.
“Do not get lured into compromising situations such as removing clothes or performing intimate acts online,” said the RGP spokesperson.
“Do not include any sensitive, private or confidential information in your profiles.
“If you become a victim of this type of scam, do not respond to the blackmailer’s demands, but report the issue to the relevant social networking site and to the police.”
Care fare
In other news, a carer is thought to be behind the theft of £130,000 worth of jewellery from two Gibraltar homes.
Virginia Osuna Gil, 31, of La Linea de la Concepcion was charged with burglary and theft.
She is believed to have stolen the high value jewellery between New Year’s Eve 2019 and July 2020.
It followed an RGP investigation by the CID using forensics to come up with the suspect’s identity.
Many Gibraltarian homes employ carers and housework helpers from La Linea de la Concepcion across the border.
