Couple among three nabbed over obscene video extortions

KUALA TERENGGANU: A married couple and a man have been arrested for allegedly extorting several people in Terengganu after engaging them in obscene video calls, police said today.

Terengganu police chief Datuk Rohaimi Md Isa said a 27-year-old man and his 23-year-old wife were arrested in Sungai Petani, Kedah at 10.15 am on Saturday under Op Cantas VC.

"Following that, police nabbed a 39-year-old man in Baling, Kedah and seized several telephones, iPad and bank cards believed to have been used for carrying out the criminal activity.

"Their modus operandi was to invite people they befriended on applications like Mi Chat to make obscene video calls (VC) and then use the recordings to extort money from the victims," he told a press conference here today.

He said Terengganu police had received reports from three victims, who said they were threatened with exposure of their obscene videos on social media if they did not bank money into the suspects' accounts.

"The amount varies, with some banking in RM30 on the first demand but eventually ended up paying RM2,000," he said, adding that all the victims are males, including civil servants.

Rohaimi said the reported cases all happened in April, and he believed many more victims did not lodge reports for fear of embarrassment.

"Our investigations show that four more related cases happened outside of Terengganu, and we have contacted the contingents concerned," he said.

Meanwhile, Rohaimi said Terengganu had reported a sharp rise in commercial crime cases in the first four months of this year.

"Losses of more than RM500,000 were reported in the same period last year but this year the figure surged to almost RM4.5 million.

"We have given enough warnings on Macau scam and love scam but many including pensioners, civil servants and professionals still fell for it. A retired teacher lost RM736,000," he added.

-- BERNAMA