BANGOR, Maine — The Bangor Police Department issued a warning on Tuesday to “avoid doing very private things in front of a webcam” after a handful of people reported that women they met on the internet were trying to blackmail them out of money.
“I was told yesterday that the fifth individual came to the counter to report this activity,” Bangor police Sgt. Tim Cotton said in a Wednesday morning email. “It’s apparently been an issue in many other jurisdictions. We of course don’t know how many have fallen for it and failed to report it, but I suspect there are more out there.”
The scam starts out with a request to become friends on Facebook with someone who appears to be a very attractive female.
“Once the individuals are friended, the new and lovely lady requests that you do things in front of the camera for ‘her,’” Cotton posted on the police department’s Facebook page. “TC’s advice, or takeaway; ‘Don’t do this!’ You have been warned.”
“As soon as you take part in this grand adventure, the ‘lovely lady’ sends you a message that you will now need to send her between $300 and $600 American dollars,” Cotton continues.
For those who say no to the blackmail, “the ‘lovely lady’ turned ‘scorned vixen’ uploads your new found fame to many, many of your Facebook friends. You know, the real ones,” Cotton posted.
The sergeant provides a little “advice” for those who receive a Facebook friend request from an unknown woman:
1. Go to the closest mirror.
2. Look at yourself.
3. Give yourself an honest review and realize that there is no reason in the world that an attractive lady from the Philippines wants to be your friend.
4. Return to the computer and delete the friend request.
5. Continue looking at lawnmowers, motorcycles and jacked up trucks that
are for sale in your region of the country.
6. Realize that you just saved yourself from showing the world what no one really needs to see, and a whole lot of cash.
“This is a scam and you will look stupid being shown around the office doing something that you really cannot take back,” Cotton posted. “Once it is out there, we can do nothing for you.”
By 11 a.m. Wednesday the department’s post had been shared 5,876 times and had 664 comments.
Cotton ended the post by saying, “We do not have a repair kit for stupid mistakes.”