The PSNI are warning of an increase in online blackmailers targeting victims after they share intimate images with fake profiles.
Detectives say that last year they were dealing with an average of 35 to 40 reports of sextortion per month. But a senior officer told Belfast Live they fear many more people are falling victim but do not go to police due to embarrassment.
And a Detective Chief Inspector who heads up a team dealing with the crime says he is aware of people who have taken their own lives or self-harmed after being targeted by the scammers.
