Winnipeg man charged with 'sextortion' that spanned multiple provinces

A Winnipeg man has been charged in connection with multiple instances of “sextortion” that spanned multiple provinces.

According to the Winnipeg Police Service, a man in his 20s came to them saying he was a victim of sextortion after he shared intimate images of himself with an unknown person online who claimed to be a young woman.

When the images were received, the suspect allegedly threatened to share the images online unless the victim sent him money.

“The victim e-transferred money to the perpetrator to avoid having his intimate images distributed and did not hear from the suspect again,” said Const. Claude Chancy with the Winnipeg Police Service.

According to police, three more victims were identified in February, and a man was charged with extortion. Additional investigation linked the accused to similar crimes across Canada, identifying victims in Manitoba, Alberta, Ontario and Prince Edward Island.

Tongun Justin Tongun, a 21-year-old man from Winnipeg, has been charged with 10 counts of extortion.

The charges have not been proven in court. Tongun was released on an undertaking as mandated by the Criminal Code.

Stephen Sauer, the executive director of Cybertip.ca, says in the last 12 months, they have received more than 3,400 reports of sextortion through the organization’s tip lines, and have seen a 50 per cent increase in sextortion victims seeking help.

“This is close to 80 victims a week, and 11 a day,” Sauer said.

Sauer adds a lot of people victimized by sextortion do not report it.

“Most individuals are trying to deal with this on their own, so the true scale of the problem is much greater than what these numbers suggest,” he said.

Sauer adds victims of sextortion should screenshot the online communications to help with the investigation, stop the communication and payments, notify your financial institution and report the incident to police and cybertip.ca.