NBI busts cellphone technician in nude photo extortion racket
MANILA, Philippines — The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) arrested a cellphone repair technician who was accused by one of his clients of demanding money in exchange for not exposing the victim’s nude photos stored in her phone.
In a statement on Monday, NBI Director Dante Gierran identified the suspect as Jonas Soriano, who was arrested for allegedly accessing the Icloud account of the complainant and extorting money from her.
The NBI said that the complainant. Who asked her sister to find someone to fix her phone.
The sister went to a mall in Divisoria to look for a cellphone technician and met Soriano.
Soriano said that he would be able to fix the phone but asked for the complainant’s Icloud username and password for confirmation, which would be needed in fixing the gadget.
The NBI said that the complainant received a private message from a certain Jenny Hamilton on Facebook on January 30, 2019 demanding for P4,000 in exchange of deleting and not posting Alena’s nude photos on social media.
Hamilton even sent a screenshot of the latter’s nude photos.
The complainant and her relatives returned to the mall to confront Soriano, but instead found his stall vacant.
Soriano returned to his stall the following day, which gave operatives from the NBI’s Cybercrime Division (NBI-CCD) the opportunity to conduct an entrapment operation.
Meanwhile, a certain Alfred Talampas, approached Soriano and the NBI operatives, causing a commotion and stalling the arresting team.
Both Soriano and Talampas were eventually arrested.
The NBI confirmed that Soriano was in possession of the screenshot of the complainant’s nude photos after operatives examined his mobile phone.
Soriano will be charged with violation of Republic Act (RA) 9995 or the Anti-Photo and Video Voyeurism Act of 2009 in relation to RA 10175 or the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012.
Talampas, who the NBI said has an outstanding warrant of arrest for violating a provision under Republic Act 9262 or the Violence Against Women and Children Law, will be charged for direct assault. / gsg
