Teen Boy Found Dead After Reportedly Being Blackmailed By Webcam Scammers With Lewd Photos

A 13-year-old boy has been found dead in Incheon, South Korea, after reportedly being blackmailed online by webcam phishing scammers.

The middle schooler’s body was reportedly found on May 31, lying in a flowerbed at the base of a 19 story apartment building in Incheon, the Incheon Metropolitan Police said.

Law enforcement has reportedly discovered substantial evidence indicating that the teenager was blackmailed in an anonymous chat room of a messenger app by online extortionists operating a webcam phishing scam. Police speculate they were threatening to send out illegally-obtained lewd photographs of the underage boy if he didn't pay up.

The Incheon police are currently performing digital forensics on the teen's smartphone to further investigate the details of the crime, The Korea Times reported.

Phishing scammers are online blackmailers that use fake identities to lure victims to perform sexual acts in front of their webcams. After this, they threaten to spread the obscene footage to those in the victims' contact list unless they meet their demands.

Eight people were reportedly nabbed for a similar sextortion and phishing ring based in China last month. The group reportedly scammed early 80 victims through various online crimes including webcam phishing, extorting around 700 million won (US$630,000) in cash in total.

Out of the 78 victims, 28 males aged between 20 and 70, were allegedly threatened with the release of lewd footage. The ring managed to collect 300 million won from them in total via blackmail.

In a similar but unrelated incident, a man from Bangalore, India, identified as Avinash BS reportedly hanged himself in his home on March 23 after being a victim of sextortion by online gangs.

A person who identified herself as “Neha Sharma” reportedly established contact with him on social media and allegedly lured him to perform sexual acts on camera that were eventually recorded.

Avinash had reportedly borrowed 35,000 rupees (US$480) from his friends to pay one of the gang members a day before his death. The case came to light when the gang contacted Avinash’s sister on Facebook demanding more money without knowing that the mad had already died, The Indian Express reported.