Interpol Ghana and the Cybercrime Unit of the Ghana Police Service have issued a formal alert regarding a significant uptick in cases of sextortion. According to a report by Modern Ghana, security officials have identified a pattern where perpetrators use social engineering to gain the trust of victims before obtaining private or sensitive data. The authorities stated that these criminals often operate through fake social media profiles to initiate romantic or professional conversations.
A report by GhanaWeb corroborated these findings and noted that the suspects often record their victims during video calls or trick them into sharing explicit photographs. Once the material is obtained, the perpetrators demand large sums of money or electronic transfers under the threat of releasing the content to the public or the employers of the victims. The Ghana Police Service indicated that many of these operations are being run by organized syndicates with sophisticated digital tools.
The Cybercrime Unit emphasized that no individual is immune to these attacks which have affected professionals and students alike. According to a Citi Newsroom report, the police advised the public to exercise extreme caution when interacting with strangers online and to avoid sharing intimate media regardless of the perceived level of trust. The authorities also recommended the use of privacy settings to limit the visibility of personal information to unknown third parties.
Official statements from the police suggest that victims should report these incidents immediately rather than complying with the demands of blackmailers. The security agencies warned that paying a ransom does not guarantee the destruction of the compromised data and often leads to repeated extortion attempts. Interpol Ghana confirmed it is working with international partners to track the digital footprints of these syndicates as some attackers are suspected to be operating from jurisdictions outside of Ghana.