Photo: VCG

Don't fall for naked chatting scams, the local Public Security Bureau in Nanjing warned via its Twitter-like Sina Weibo over and over again, to remind netizens to keep away from the illegal activities, which aroused a wide discussion among Chinese netizens recently.

At least 2,000 people have been blackmailed in 41 cases worth over 24 million yuan ($3.7 million) due to naked chatting, with victims in over 20 provinces, cities and autonomous regions, including East China's Fujian and Shandong provinces, South China's Guangdong Province, Southwest China's Chongqing, and Northeast China's Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces.

The 41 naked-chatting extortion cases occurred from 2011 to 2020, according to media reports, citing data from China Judgements Online. The amount of scams involved in a single case ranged from 200 yuan to over 630,000 yuan.

Criminals often pretend to be women to lure victims into naked chats and secretly record them, and then blackmail the victims by threatening to send videos of them to their relatives and friends, the Jiangning Branch of Nanjing's Public Security Bureau, East China's Jiangsu Province reminded all citizens to not fall for "naked chat" scams.

For the Jiangning Branch of Nanjing's Public Security Bureau alone, the bureau branch said via its Weibo that it has received 243 reports of naked chat scams, all involving male victims from December 1, 2020, to the end of January this year.

There was also a case in which the victim had been blackmailed for four years with over 630,000 yuan, an Apple computer and a phone, from 2011 to 2015. Eventually the criminal was sentenced to 11 years and six months.

Some netizens questioned why there were still so many victims that would like to take the risk although they have been warned again and again.