Here’s why you should properly close your social media and messaging apps, and secure your smart phones properly—better yet, do not store sensitive photos in your smartphones.

The nude photos of a female minor were accidentally sent to a chat group in Messenger that was accidentally created by her boyfriend when he had his cellular phone tucked inside his gartered shorts.

But what prompted the female minor to seek the assistance of the Anti-Cybercrime Group of the Philippine National Police (PNP-ACG) was when one of the friends of her boyfriend took advantage of it to demand for sexual intercourse.

PNP-ACG director Sidney Hernia said the succeeding operation resulted in the arrest of an 18-year old suspect at around 7 p.m. on April 1 for violations of Article 282 (Grave Coercion) of the Revised Penal Code and Republic Act 11930 all in relation to Section 6 of RA 10175 (Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012).

In her complaint, the victim said her boyfriend had her cellular phone tucked inside his gartered shorts, with her Facebook Messenger account left open.

One of her boyfriend’s friends that was accidentally included in the newly-created chat group allegedly saved the photos and used them to extort and force her for a meet-up.

“He threatened to arrange for her to meet him at a motel via a Motor Rider for sexual intercourse, prompting her to report the incident to our office at the Manila Police District,” said Hernia.

Hernia then advised smartphone users to exercise caution by never leaving your phone unattended, or alternatively, set it to automatically lock after a short period of inactivity.

“By doing so, even if you forget to manually lock your phone, it will still secure itself after a certain amount of time,” said Hernia.

“This proactive measure not only safeguards your personal data but also significantly reduces the risk of cybercriminals gaining access to your information for nefarious purposes such as extortion,” he added.