Long Beach police said Wednesday that they are examining multiple \u201csextortion\u201d incidents involving at least one suspect who sought to trade nude photos with victims online, then threatened to share the images if they did not pay up.<\/p>\n
Sex crimes detectives have been investigating the cases since May 2025. They involve \u201can unknown suspect (or suspects) who connected with victims on dating and social media apps,\u201d according to the Long Beach Police Department.<\/p>\n
\u201cVictims were asked to `trade\u2019 nude photographs with the suspect(s) through an app, then asked for a phone number and continued the conversation via text message,\u201d police said in a news release. \u201cOnce phone numbers were exchanged, the suspect then sent texts demanding that money be sent, threatening to `leak\u2019 the photos to the sender\u2019s family, friends and employer if they did not comply. In some instances, they posted these images, even after receiving money.\u201d<\/p>\n
Police said there are steps that can be taken to avoid becoming a sextortion victim, and measures to keep in mind if victimized.<\/p>\n
The LBPD advises the following:<\/p>\n
\u2014 Do not post information online such as your address, passwords or location.<\/p>\n
\u2014 Keep your social media accounts private. People online can use your social media to find your friends\u2019 and family\u2019s accounts.<\/p>\n
\u2014 Do not share your phone number with others on social media and dating apps.<\/p>\n
\u2014 Do not share nude photographs or videos with somebody you do not know personally or trust.<\/p>\n
\u2014 Report suspicious activity `in-app\u2019 and block suspicious accounts.<\/p>\n
\u2014 Do not comply when someone online requests money or other digital currency.<\/p>\n
\u2014 Save any messages, photos, user names and other information shared before blocking the person.<\/p>\n
\u2014 Consider reporting the incident to the police department.<\/p>\n
To file a report, LBPD dispatch can be reached at 562-435-6711.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you or someone you know has been targeted, help is available,\u201d according to the LBPD. \u201cVictims are not at fault, and reporting can prevent further harm to others.\u201d<\/p>\n
Anyone with information or who may be a victim of sextortion was encouraged to contact the LBPD\u2019s Sex Crimes Detail at 562-570-7368. Anonymous tips can be submitted through LA Crime Stoppers by calling 800-222-TIPS (8477) or by visiting www.lacrimestoppers.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Long Beach police said Wednesday that they are examining multiple \u201csextortion\u201d incidents involving at least one suspect who…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28494,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[102806,18935,35403,14365,14483,131,133,132,31510,102807],"class_list":["post-225664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-advise","tag-cases","tag-caution","tag-detectives","tag-investigating","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news","tag-online","tag-sextortion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=225664"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225664\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}