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The Hong Kong Police participated in a joint operation against "Naked Chat" Blackmail on April 30 and May 1, resulting in the arrest of 58 persons in the Philippines suspected for taking part in overseas "Naked Chat" Blackmail cases.
The Hong Kong Police have been maintaining close co-operation and intelligence exchange with overseas law enforcement agencies against "Naked Chat" Blackmail cases.
Through the liaison channel of the INTERPOL, the Hong Kong Police had jointly conducted an operation against "Naked Chat" Blackmail with overseas law enforcement agencies from Singapore, the United States, the United Kingdom and the Philippines on April 30 and May 1, which is the first operation of its kind.
Based on the intelligence gathered and analysed by overseas law enforcement agencies and the Hong Kong Police, the Philippines National Police mounted an operation in various locations in the Philippines, with the arrest of 58 persons of Filipino nationality (including 48 males and 10 females, aged from 20 to 40) who were suspected of committing crimes related to "Naked Chat" Blackmail. It was believed that three syndicates of "Naked Chat" Blackmail operating in the Philippines and targeting overseas victims have been neutralized.
Since October 2013, the Commercial Crime Bureau of the Hong Kong Police has coordinated an operation against "Naked Chat" Blackmail, codenamed "Operation GLOBALTEE". Under the operation, a four-pronged approach has been adopted to combat "Naked Chat" Blackmail cases in full strength through intelligence analysis, enforcement, multi-agency collaboration, as well as publicity and education.
In this operation, the Commercial Crime Bureau had initiated intelligence gathering and analysis into all "Naked Chat" Blackmail cases reported in Hong Kong since 2013, and exchanged relevant intelligence with overseas law enforcement agencies through the platform of INTERPOL.
Analysis on the intelligence exchanged among the Hong Kong Police and overseas law enforcement agencies revealed the identity of a few criminal syndicates in the Philippines, which were related to "Naked Chat" Blackmail cases occurring overseas including Hong Kong.
The Philippines National Police raided a number of premises in various locations in Bulacan Province, Bicol Region and Laguna Province in the Philippines on April 30 and May 1. During the operation, 58 persons of Filipino nationality were arrested, with the seizure of over 200 exhibits including personal computers/tablets, various mobile phones, bank/ATM cards and remittance receipts.
Investigation revealed that the arrested persons had either contacted victims through social media platforms, and had saved the "Naked Chat" video of victims in their personal computers, or had received the extortion money remitted by the victims from overseas to the Philippines.
Three of the 58 arrested persons and 15 suspects at large are suspected to be connected with various cases in Hong Kong. All arrested persons in the cases have been detained by the Philippines National Police for investigation.
The Hong Kong Police will continue to work with the Philippines National Police to follow up with investigation into such cases occurring in Hong Kong and maintain close cooperation with overseas law enforcement agencies against "Naked Chat" Blackmail.
Ends/Friday, May 2, 2014
Issued at HKT 17:47
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