Do not share family photos on social media, warn police

Abu Dhabi: The Abu Dhabi Police on Sunday called on the public not to post family photos and videos on the social media sites as it may be misused for extortion and pose a security threat.

The Department of Cybercrime Control in the Directorate of Criminal Investigation Department of Abu Dhabi Police dealt with a number of cases of extortion of people who had been victims of such criminal acts, which were initiated from abroad.

In many of these cases, fraudsters stole photographs, videos and private conversations which were then used to extort money from people.

Colonel Omran Ahmad Al Mazroui, Director of Criminal Investigations, said that there are anonymous links and electronic tricks that deceive the users to increase the number of followers or demand to update the data so that the piracy professionals and even beginners can seize accounts and extort.

These fake links operate in the background without the users being aware of infiltrating into their accounts, he said.

He cautioned the public against falling prey to such fraudsters and avoid posting personal, family photos and videos, adding people must report to the competent authorities about such cases of exploitations online.

Al Mazroui called on the public not to open suspicious links and activate the security steps followed by applications of instant messaging on social networking sites.

The police said that it has launched an awareness campaign to educate people about the methods of online extortions and e-fraud.