Cases of 'sextortion' have risen by almost 30% in Midlothian over the last three moths, a police chief has said.
Local area commander James Robertson said a decline in the number of 'contact offences' such as indecent or sexual assault in post-Covid times happened because criminals now prefer to find victims online.
And he revealed community teams had been working with schools ahead of the summer holidays to ensure children were safe in the 'cyber arena'.
READ MORE: Midlothian residents scared by fireworks chaos as calls grow for tougher restrictions
Speaking to Midlothian Police and Fire and Rescue Board this week Mr Robertson said: "During (the last three months) we have noticed an increase in offences, namely communicating indecently which was a 4-5% increase and threatening disclosure of intimate images which was up 28%.
"These increases are driven by the online offending and we have observed patterns continuing from Covid which impact on all age groups.
"These increases highlight a decline in physical or contact offences in favour of offending online."
He added that police were working to support victims of online offences while warning that the global scale of some scams meant offenders could be anywhere in the world.
He said: "We continue to utilise social media to raise awareness of so-called sextortion, scams where fraudsters befriend individuals online, enticing them to perform sexual acts or send explicit photographs and thereafter blackmail the person who sent those images for money.
"Despite raising awareness on social media we continue to support victims and direct them to appropriate third party agencies.
"We seek to raise awareness of how to remain safe in the cyber arena."
In his report to the board, which met virtually, he said: "Midlothian Community officers delivered internet safety and cyber bullying inputs prior to the summer holiday period, to all Midlothian school age young person helping them remain safe whilst online."
The report on the second quarter of this year revealed there had been a 25% decrease in indecent or sexual assault over the last three months compared to a five year average .
And it said a 26% fall in drugs offences had also been recorded with 111 possession of drugs crimes recorded, and a detection rate of 98.2%.
As a result of pro-active enquiries £87,000 worth of Class A and B drugs were recovered within Midlothian over the last three months and the police report said focus was now on Class C Benzodiazepine street drugs such Valium or Xanax as it has recently been identified that these have led to an increase in drug related deaths when used in a cocktail mixed with Class A drugs.
READ NEXT:
'Unconventional' Midlothian house extension rejected for being too high
Half of Midlothian house fires in homes without working smoke alarms
Midlothian construction worker rushed to hospital after 'accident' at building site
Former Midlothian library site to be turned into low energy social housing
Midlothian council leader says UK Government decisions have been 'catastrophic'
