The use of electronics to try to part honest people from their money through various scams is something that is becoming more and more common. The Weyburn Police Service deals with reports of these scams on a regular basis, including one that is starting to become a bit more prevalent in recent weeks.  

The scam, which was detailed in their weekly report released Tuesday morning, uses a potential victim’s own social media posts against them, in a way.  

“I haven’t seen it personally, but it sounds like it’s quite real,” explained Deputy Police Chief Brent VanDeSype. It can take a photo of a person from their social media page, whether it’s Facebook or Twitter or anything like that, and superimpose it on a lower piece of the body, or any piece of the body of a different image that makes it look like it’s very revealing, very embarrassing, and then playing that person’s emotions and fear that they’re going to circulate it among their friends and family.” 

In most cases, the scammer sends the image to the victim first, to entice them to send money. This could increase fear and anxiety, especially since the photo doesn’t truly exist in the first place. So what should a person do in that instance? 

“I mean, ignore it,” said VanDeSype. “Whether it’s text message or e-mail or whatever it is, just ignore it. Report it to the police.” He noted that in many cases it can be difficult for the investigation to uncover who the scammer truly is, considering the ruse will use fake phone numbers, hidden IP addresses and more. However, if it isn’t reported to the police, they can’t start the process to find out where the scam is coming from.