Alan Irwin's Experience with Sextortion Scam
When Alan Irwin matched with a potential partner on Tinder, he did not anticipate that within days he would be involved with police due to an attempted sextortion scam. The 35-year-old reported the incident last month after a man he met through the dating app threatened to share intimate footage of him with his friends and family.
Instead of engaging with the scammer, Irwin blocked the account and refused to comply with the threats.
"If you don't panic, they've no hold over you,"
Irwin has chosen to share his experience to raise awareness, especially among younger individuals who might be more prone to panic in such situations.
"I'd say they'd take it a lot worse than somebody my age,"
Last year, a record number of under-18s in the UK sought help after experiencing online sextortion, according to a report by the Internet Watch Foundation.
Details of the Scam Encounter
Irwin matched with the profile last month and spent several days chatting on Tinder before the conversation was moved to other platforms. They began communicating on WhatsApp and later arranged a video call which turned sexual.
"As soon as I'd done things, that's when the call ended,"
Minutes later, Irwin received a phone call followed by messages containing a screen recording of the video call and a text stating: "This is your dirty video and I got all your family and friends information on Facebook and Instagram. Tell me share or delete? Answer my call if you want to settle this."
Irwin, from Larne, told NI that initially he felt panic because no one wants such videos shared with friends and family.
"It was a bit of a panic to begin with because obviously nobody wants that type of video shared to your friends and family."
He blocked the account and proactively posted a warning to his contacts on Facebook to prevent any potential distribution of the footage.
The scammer, using a different phone number, began sending screenshots of the video being sent to Irwin's followers, repeatedly asking, "Want more?" after each screenshot.
Irwin contacted several people shown in the screenshots, and none reported receiving any such content.
Before the video call, Irwin had no suspicions as he had been talking with the person for some time and had built trust.
"Because we'd been talking for so long you sort of build trust with them,"
He found it particularly concerning that the Tinder profile appeared verified, which gave a false sense of security.
"You always think if they're verified on Tinder they're a real person. You're talking to real people. You don't really think it's going to happen to you,"
Irwin reported the incident to police, but the Tinder account had unmatched and blocked him, erasing all chat history.
"There was no chat history, nothing. It was all gone. I couldn't even show them his face because it was in the Tinder profile."
Similar Cases and Political Response
Cara Hunter, the SDLP assembly member for east Derry, recently attended a police interview with a constituent who was similarly targeted by sextortion criminals online.
The constituent, a young man with autism, also matched with a verified Tinder account. The scammer used a Philippines phone number (+63) and gained the man's trust before initiating a video call to obtain footage for blackmail.
The young man paid approximately £1,300 to prevent the footage from being shared.
"It's absolutely horrific, a real unique form of cruelty to hold something like this over somebody's head,"
"When people are victims of sextortion scams it's really important that we shift that blame and shame back on to the perpetrator."
Support and Statistics from Nexus Charity
Joanne Barnes, chief executive of Nexus, a charity supporting victims of domestic and sexual abuse, stated that about 45 cases of sextortion are reported to police monthly.
"At one point it was 70 cases a month,"
"In our small society, that's huge."
Barnes noted that these figures likely represent only a fraction of actual cases, as many victims feel too embarrassed to come forward.
She described perpetrators as patient and calculating, building connections to exploit victims.
"It may be embarrassing for a few days, weeks or months, but what we would really encourage people to do is not put a long-term solution to a short-term problem.
Alan did a very sensible thing. He took a breath, he decided to take matters into his own hands to prevent the ability for this person or this group to exploit him any further."
Responses from Meta and Tinder
Meta, owner of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, described sextortion as a horrific crime and stated it works aggressively to combat it.
The company removes accounts of sextortion scammers when identified, either proactively or through user reports, and supports law enforcement investigations and prosecutions.
Tinder has been approached for comment regarding these incidents.
Police Service of Northern Ireland Involvement
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) confirmed receiving a report of suspected online blackmail in Larne at approximately 16:00 BST on 12 May.
The PSNI website provides information about sextortion, including guidance for victims.
Detective Inspector Ryan urged anyone targeted by sextortion to report the matter to police and emphasized that victims are not alone.
"Innocent people are left feeling humiliated and distraught, but the important message is that victims shouldn't let embarrassment stop them from reporting what's happened.
People do make mistakes, no-one is infallible, and if you've been a victim of sextortion, then you're certainly not alone."
Support Resources
If you or someone you know has been affected by issues covered in this story, visit BBC Action Line for information and organisations that can provide assistance.
