CU Police Issue Warning About 'Sextortion' Cases
BOULDER, Colo. (CBS4)- The University of Colorado Boulder Police Department is warning the CU community and others about internet sextortion cases.
CU Police are investigating two recent cases where an overseas criminal has engaged in sexually explicit activity with CU students over Skype and then threatened to publish that video unless the victim wires a large amount of money.
Police say this is how the scam works: The suspect friends the victim on Facebook and they exchange messages and eventually the student and female suspect have a video conversation on Skype.
During the conversation the suspect asks the student to remove his clothes and engage in some form of sexual exchange. After the conversation ends, the suspect contacts the victim and threatens to share a video recording with his Facebook friends unless he sends money. Neither student paid the suspect.
The female college-age suspect has the same screen name in both recent cases "queenie lee." Investigators learned the phone number for the suspect appears to be based in Singapore.
CU Police believe the recent cases are related to two reports filed with police in the spring. In the first case from the spring, the victim did wire money to a party in the Philippines. In the second case from the spring, the victim was told to wire money to a party in Morocco but did not.
It's not clear if the suspects are specifically targeting CU students, college students across the country or the general public.
Additional Information from CU Police:
Anyone with additional information on this scam is urged to contact CUPD Investigations Sgt. Steve Cowles at (303) 492-8168.
To keep yourself safe from "sextortion," do not text, email or post online explicit photos of yourself. Remember that once you put an image out there, you lose control of it, even if that image is hidden behind a password lock. An anti-virus software program can help to keep you safe from a variety of different types of attacks, including sextortion. For it to be effective, update it regularly. Make an update a part of your weekly routine. If you believe you have been the victim of sextortion on campus, contact CUPD at 303-492-6666. You can also file a report with the federal Internet Crime Complaint Center at http://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx. This cybercrime task force is a joint undertaking among the FBI, the National White Collar Crime Center and the Bureau of Justice Assistance.
