In order to promote safety and security for students and employees, a Public Safety Advisory is being issued for blackmail, extortion, and sexual exploitation.
REPORTED INCIDENT: IUPD has received multiple reports since the beginning of the academic semester regarding blackmail, extortion, and sexual exploitation. Most of the reported cases involve individuals accepting strangers as “friends” via social media, most commonly through Snapchat and/or Instagram. After accepting the invitation and talking online for a short period of time, a victim is asked to send explicit photos of themself to the other individual. After the individual receives the photos, they demand money from the victim and/or they threaten to share the photos publicly.
TIME AND LOCATION OF INCIDENT: No specific times or locations; these are all cyber-related crimes.
SUSPECT: IUPD has no suspect information currently.
In an effort to keep yourself and others safe, please consider the following safety tips:
- Don’t accept friend requests on Snapchat or Instagram unless you know the individual sending the request.
- Don’t send any explicit photos of yourself to anyone, especially anyone you’ve only communicated with online.
- Don’t send any money or gift cards to someone requesting or demanding them who you don’t know.
Additional safety tips can be found on the Protect IU website.
Anyone with information on this type of incident or any other crime is encouraged to call the IU Police Department – Bloomington at 812-855-4111.
You may also call Crime Stoppers at 1-317-262-TIPS (8477).
Download the IU Rave Guardian safety app.
Update your information on the IU Notify page to receive the most up-to-date notifications. Instructions for how to update your contact information are found at: https://kb.iu.edu/d/avvp