Guelph Police investigate online threats against kids, sextortion
Posted Feb 5, 2025 10:57:36 AM.
Last Updated Feb 5, 2025 12:19:29 PM.
One case of sextortion in Guelph, one case of threats against children, and police say Facebook images, real and fake, were used in both.
Two calls came to officials on Tuesday, one which was from a mother who said the lives of her children had been threatened. She told police she got a message through an app with pictures of her kids, and a demand to pay $1,000 to keep them out of risk.
She did not pay and called police.
Investigators say those pictures came from the mother’s Facebook account.
The other call that day came from a man in his 60s who got a comment on his photo supposedly from a woman with a revealing profile photo.
During an online chat the woman asked for a photo, and the victim sent her only a photo of his face.
Police say he was sent back a fake Facebook post that included that face pic, plus a penis, and a threat it would all be shared unless the man sent Apple gift cards.
Police are reminding everyone doing anything online that “any information or images shared can be manipulated and used against you.”
They make no mention of arrests or suspects in either investigation.
