Hey, airman, that strange lady who Facebook-messaged you an enticing offer of sex via webcam is actually throwing all kinds of red flags. If somehow you didn’t know this already, the Air Force doesn’t want you to be a victim of — wait for it — sextortion.
This “new online scam” (LOL) caused the Air Force to issue a warning about irresponsible amorous online behavior. An unknown but disquieting number of soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines have been lured into filming themselves doing things better left private, thereby exposing themselves to blackmail.
“The perpetrator subsequently threatens to upload the contents on various websites (YouTube, Facebook, heterosexual and homosexual porn sites, etc.) or distribute it to the victims’ family, friends, or coworkers unless financial payment is made,” the Air Force’s Office of Special Investigations explains in an alert issued last month and distributed by Public Intelligence. (.PDF) Gullible young men in uniform may be special targets, given their access to sensitive information and the “strict requirements associated with maintaining a security clearance.”
Posing particular alarm was a sextortion ring discovered by Facebook’s security team last November. Operating out of the Philippines, 21 employees of a company called MoneyMaker Portal Web Solutions reportedly targeted “hundreds of U.S. Army and Navy members for a period of more than a year.” It’s not known how many servicemembers actually fell for the scam, but the Air Force is evidently not taking any chances: “multiple incidents” of sextortion involving airmen have been reported “in Japan, South Korea and Alaska, one in Portugal, and one on Guam.”
The Office of Special Investigations isn’t offering any magic bullet to avoid sextortion, for the simple reason that common sense is the best defense. A request from a stranger “to exchange provocative pictures or videos should be an immediate indicator of a potential scam,” it notes, because obviously. Don’t make the Air Force take away your internet connection. LINK
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