Oakville male arrested in online extortion investigation

Published February 1, 2021 at 7:58 pm

haltonpolice2

According to police, in the summer of 2020, the Halton Regional Police Service (HRPS) began an online extortion investigation when two separate victims reported being contacted over social media.

Police say the victims were asked to send a nude image in exchange for money.

The suspect indicated the image would only be viewed for a few seconds before being deleted, according to police.

After receiving the image, the suspect was able to save a copy and threatened to distribute it unless additional images were sent, police say. No money was exchanged, according to police.

Police say the suspect ultimately distributed the images without the consent of the victims and in one case the victim was under the age of 18.

On January 28, 2021, the suspect, Nathan Haslett, a 25-year-old from Oakville was arrested and charged with extortion (3 counts), distribution of intimate image without consent (5 counts), distribution of child pornography (4 counts) and possession of child pornography (3 counts).

Police believe there may be other victims and are asking anyone who had contact with the online identity of “Jason Tottersmith” and/or the Instagram account “jay.totts” or Snapchat account of “jtottersmith” to contact police.

Police want to remind the public that all images shared over the internet can be saved without your knowledge and to never send images to unknown persons over the internet.

Additionally, police are reminding the public to increase all privacy and security settings to all of your social media accounts.

For additional internet safety tips, click here.

Anyone with information in regards to any of these occurrences is asked to contact Acting Detective Stephane Verreault of the Oakville Criminal Investigations Bureau at 905-825-4747 ext. 2260

Tips can also be submitted to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS) or through the web at www.haltoncrimestoppers.ca.

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