According to sources close to the online fraud prevention task force, there has been a resurgence of online threats and extortions targeting men, via recorded video calls. Extortions and harassment are made via Facebook, Viber and Telegram, as well as other social media platforms,
which are the most popular
in Myanmar.
which are the most popular
in Myanmar.
“The key is to avoid video calls from unknown accounts. If you answer, the other side may be doing some vulgar acts or replaying a video, and they will threaten to spread it after taking a screenshot. It is an extortion. Some have to pay a monthly fee,” he said. If the amount of money demanded is not paid, the screenshots are spread to the friends of the perpetrators to humiliate the victim.
“There are people in our community who have gone through the same incident. When he answered an unknown video call, the other side was showing a woman’s private parts. It hung up after about five seconds. Then they sent a recorded video and asked for money,” said a victim. Most victims had to pay as they feared humiliation.
“The scammers tend to target honest people. Even people who live in big cities pay money when they have to deal with this kind of thing. When they could no longer stand it, they revealed the case online. We can’t know how those in rural areas will cope with it,” said a resident of Yangon. In the past, threats of sexual harassment were often directed at women, but from 2023 onwards, their targets were shifting to men.
MI has spoken to the person in charge of technology and social media within the Yangon Regional government. He has mentioned that many elderly men of stature and position in government, asked him for assistance after they had fallen into the trap of showing off their innermost assets to girls on the videos and getting blackmail thereafter.
