Toronto Police investigators are warning the public about a disturbing extortion scam that involves suspects texting victims “graphic violent images” in an effort to intimidate them into making payments.
In a release, Toronto Police Service (TPS) said the scam is targetting residents in the Greater Toronto Area.
The calls or texts come from American phone numbers with the area codes 470 and 404.
The victims are sent images depicting graphic violence and threatened, police say.
“A demand for money is made, and if not paid the sender is alleging violence will come to the victim,” TPS said in a release.
“We would like to advise the public that this is a known scam in a bid to extort money from the receiver.”
Investigators say the scam has reported to them with “increasing frequency” and offer the following tips to the public:
• be aware of this fraud scam
• should you receive one of these messages or phone calls, report the incident to police immediately
• do not pay any money
• if your information has been compromised in a data breach previously, we recommend changing the passwords to any accounts
