Dubai teen arrested for blackmailing 12-year-old girl
Police urge people to report online extortion via e-crime platform
Dubai: Dubai Police arrested a teen for blackmailing a 12-year-old girl with her private pictures.
According to Captain Abdullah Al Shehi, Deputy Director of Cybercrime Department at Dubai Police, the 15-year-old Arab boy asked the girl to pay money for not publishing her pictures on social media platforms.
She sought help from her uncle, who alerted Dubai Police. “The girl’s family made a complaint about an unknown person threatening to defame the girl on Instagram. He created accounts on social media impersonating the girl and published some pictures. He asked for money to delete the pictures,” said Captain Al Shehi.
The girl’s family asked for help to block the fake accounts and recovering the images.
Quick action
Dubai Police identified the teen and arrested him. “His mobile phone contained pictures of the girl and conversations with the victim.”
Police said that the teen had the pictures from the victim and after she sent them, he threatened to post them unless he was paid. Police said that the Arab teen took advantage of the girl after noticing that she was afraid to inform her family.
Dubai Police warned public not to be victims of online extortion and alert police or their families. Victims can report such incidents on Dubai Police’s e-crime platform.