How Cyber Gangs Blackmail Their Victims By Luring Them Into Webcam Sex Acts

Teenagers trapped in webcam sex stings are being blackmailed by foreign “sextortion gangs”. At least four victims have killed themselves after webcam ­blackmailers tricked them into performing online sex acts.

The “sextortionists”, often based thousands of miles away in Africa or Asia, use stolen pictures and fake profiles to con people into thinking they are having genuinely intimate one-on-one video calls. These are recorded and victims are told footage of their sex session will be made public and sent to friends and family unless they send cash.

One teenager stung by an Ivory Coast gang told his blackmailer after being online for just 100 minutes: “I’d rather go and shoot myself, you f***ing trash making people do this.” The coldhearted criminal replied: “I thank you I want your money more I will share your video bye?”

Minutes later, the victim typed his suicide note which read: “I was getting blackmailed by someone for £800 so they sent a video around of me and ruined my life.

"I am so sorry … but this is the only way out.” In the morning, he was found dead.

The Daily Mirror went to Africa to find how this teenager and another Briton were driven to take their own lives by criminals in the Ivory Coast.

It was discovered that the police there are struggling to cope with the rackets operating via a network of scammers, internet cafes and Western Union cash transfers.

Some victims are ambushed as they browse social media, some are looking for love on dating sites and others are tricked by pop-up ads on porn websites.

An English teenager had killed himself after being lured into a Skype chat with a “pretty brunette”. Police believe the victim, was tricked into sexual activity in front of his webcam.

The Ivorian extortionist, who set up the fake Skype profile, sent his victim a picture of the sex act, threatening to post it on YouTube and share it with Facebook friends and family. He also vowed to make the baseless claim that the teenager had been watching ­child-sex abuse videos at the time.

He sent a link for a Western Union account and demanded £800. The youngster tried to send £350. But his bank blocked it, suspecting fraud.

The same Ivorian Skype user had targeted another potential victim on Facebook , just five days earlier, posing as a 22-year-old Texan brunette.

But pictures of “Daniella” had been stolen. Officers traced the Skype and fake Facebook accounts to the Ivory Coast, as well as two mobile phone numbers linked to a Western Union account used in the extortion bid.

Ivorian Cybercrime police found the mobile numbers allegedly belonged to a man called Ouare Yaya.

He is on the run but had withdrawn cash from Western Union branches. He was linked to a cashier called Kouadio Eoule, 33, accused of letting Yaya withdraw £164 sent by a victim.

UK police said inquiries into the suicide were ongoing and they hope to extradite the blackmailer, if caught, to face up to 14 years in jail. But tough cybercrime laws introduced in the Ivory Coast in 2013 mean offenders face up to 20 years and £164,000 fines.

[Daily Mirror]