Philippines makes arrests in online extortion ring

Published August 22, 2014 10:59am ET



MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine police have arrested eight suspected members of an online syndicate accused of blackmailing more than 1,000 Hong Kong and Singapore residents after luring them into exposing themselves in front of webcam, an official said Friday.

The raid on the syndicate’s locations in northern Bulacan province on Thursday was a follow-up to an operation backed by Interpol in April in which 58 Filipinos were arrested, and another 100 linked to the extortion in a subsequent investigation in May. The victims came from all over the world, including a Scottish teenager who committed suicide after being blackmailed.

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