Salina Man Targeted in Online Dating Extortion Scheme

A 21-year-old Salina resident became the victim of an extortion attempt after sending explicit photos via text message to someone he met on an adult dating site.

The incident occurred between 1:00 PM and 2:20 PM on December 31st.

The victim received threatening messages from numbers with 785 and California area codes, demanding payment to prevent the photos from being shared on social media. When called, the numbers played recordings with foreign accents. Despite deleting his social media accounts, the threats continued.

The victim reports losing $100-200 in a similar scheme last summer through PayPal. No images have been posted online. Police are investigating the case.