The curiosity of 'Art' and the PNP's helpline for 'sextortion' victims
Probably bored with watching porn videos alone, an 18-year old man from Iloilo City suddenly came up with a devious plan to finally lose his virginity.
But that scheme aimed at satisfying his curiosity on what it feels like did not bring him on cloud nine, rather, to a detention facility of the Philippine National Police-Anti-Cyber Crime Group in Western Visayas.
PNP-ACG director Brig. Gen. Bernard Yang said the suspect, or alias “Art”, was collared in an entrapment that was mapped out based on the complaint of a 22-year old woman whom he was trying to have sexual encounter with.
Yang said the suspect contacted the victim through a social media platform and claimed that he was in possession of explicit photos and videos of her.
“The suspect was coercing and harassing a woman using explicit photos and videos and according to the victim, he was pressuring her into a sexual encounter by claiming to have her private photos and videos,” said Yang.
And based on the complaint, the 18-year old suspect was demanding a one-night stand in exchange for deleting the explicit materials.
According to the victim, the suspect was explaining that he just wanted to lose his virginity out of curiosity.
The claim of explicit photos and videos were not true and just part of the suspect’s devious plan, but this kind of modus is the reason why PNP chief Gen. Nicolas Torre III wants to create a helpline for women who are being victimized by various sextortion modus.
“This sextortion modus is a sensitive and complex problem that we recognize because most of the victims would not seek help due to the kind of situation that they are in,” said Torre.
“So we are crafting measures to establish a helpline for the victims of blackmail, especially those using sex videos,” he added.
Torre said the helpline was aimed at encouraging more victims to seek help, especially from the police, in order to ensure that those involved would be punished.
The ACG earlier advised the victims that the suspects will repeatedly initiate the blackmail, unless they are arrested and charged.
Torre said they are now finalizing the mechanisms of the helpline and that the project would be rolled out soon.