Singapore arrests online scammer who got victims to send photos of bare chests

Victims were promised to be given cash and other gifts once compromising photos were sent.

A 27-year-old man was arrested by Singapore police on Monday for tricking people to send him their photos of bare chests.

The police said the suspect was involved in a number of fraud cases and is also accused of hacking people's social media messaging accounts. The victims reported the communication was done through their friends' Facebook Messenger, and were asked to send photos of their chests.

Some of the victims were promised to be gifted with cash and other gifts once the photos were sent. But they later realized that those requests were not sent by their friends.

A number of victims had lodged complaint since May 2. Preliminary investigations showed that the suspect had hacked into Facebook Messenger and used others' accounts to ask for compromising photos of several people.

He is being investigated for a number of possible offences including impersonation and cyber crime. If he is proved guilty, he would have to face up to five years of jail and fine. On the other hand, for the hacking offence, he may be jailed up to two years and fined maximum of $5,000.

The police said the investigations are still going on. They have warned the public to be careful of such messages and that if they receive any dubious messages or requests, they should seek verification immediately.

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