Student jailed for ‘sex video’ blackmail

CEBU, Philippines — A 20-year-old student was arrested after allegedly threatening his ex-girlfriend of posting their sex videos on social media.

Authorities have conducted an entrapment operation resulting to the arrest of the suspect along F. LLamas Street, Barangay Tisa, Cebu City last Thursday evening.

The entrapment operation was conducted after the suspect’s former girlfriend filed a complaint before the Regional Anti-Cybercrime Unit (RACU)-7 against him.

The 19-year-old complainant said the suspect threatened him to post her nude pictures and sex videos on Facebook if she refuses to do his favors and sexual demands.

“Karon kay sa ing-ani nga sitwasyon, uyab sila ang ginikanan walay kalibotan, nya gi-document diay nila ilang mga exhibition, karon kay kaning complainant di naman gyud ganahan aning suspect, gihulga ni suspect ning biktima nga kung dili makigkita iyahang i-post ilang mga pictures ug videos,” said Police Lt. Colonel Artemio Ricabo, chief of RACU-7.

Ricabo said some sex videos were already been spread and shared in social media by the suspect since September this year, two months after their breakup last June.

The suspect will be facing the charges of violation of Article 286 or Grave Coercion of Revised Penal Code and Republic Act 9262 or the Anti-Violence Against Women and Children Act of 2004 in relation to Section 6 of R.A. 10175 or the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012.

In line with this, Ricabo encourages the public to report similar incidents that to the authorities.

Ricabo further reminded the couples to avoid taking videos to prevent these similar incidents from happening.

According to Ricabo, these cases were commonly committed especially during pandemic and came in fourth with most complainants for this year with cyber libel complaints at the top.

At present, the pieces of evidence such as their phones were already submitted for the extraction of their conversation thread. — GMR (FREEMAN)