Mounties in B.C. warn 'highly convincing' scammers extorting victims with photos of their homes

Homes in Metro Vancouver are pictured in this undated file photo.

Scammers are increasingly using emails to extort money from victims by threatening to reveal compromising photos, videos and personal information to their friends and family members, according to a new warning from Mounties in Metro Vancouver.

The Coquitlam RCMP says the local detachment has received 18 reports of the scam in the past week, with the perpetrators often sending a photo of the victim's home to suggest they possess a trove of personal information about them.

Investigators say the photos of the homes are sourced from simple online searches, rather than images taken by the perpetrators.

The victim is typically instructed to send money to a Bitcoin wallet or else risk the allegedly compromising images and information being sent to their loved ones.

"This scam can appear convincing as the perpetrators have contacted the victims directly and provided open-source personal information to further perpetuate the scam," Cpl. Alexa Hodgins of the Coquitlam RCMP said in a statement Thursday.

"We want to remind the public to remain cognizant of these types of scams and to report incidents to the police immediately," she added.

None of the victims who reported the scam attempts to police had sent money to the scammers, the Coquitlam RCMP spokesperson said, adding the perpetrators of the scam "can be highly convincing, using tactics that are enticing, pressuring and threatening in nature."

Authorities are asking anyone who encounters such extortion attempts to report them immediately to police.

Anyone who falls victim to an online scam is urged to immediately cease all communication with the scammer and deactivate – but don’t delete – any accounts used to communicate with the perpetrator.

"Keep the correspondence," police advised in the statement. "Keep information such as the person's username, social media account information, a copy of the communications, along with any images and/or videos that were sent."

The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre maintains a database of recent scams and frauds, as well as resources for victims and those seeking to avoid being victimized.

The centre says it helped recover approximately $7 million that was lost to fraudsters in Canada between 2021 and 2023. An estimated $569 million was lost to scammers in Canada last year, while $284 million has been lost so far in 2024, according to data compiled by the agency.