Police have warned that men who masturbate during video calls may leave themselves open to blackmail by gangs using fake profile photos of beautiful women.

Several Thai males, both children and adults, had already fallen prey to these gangs, police said on Tuesday.

The gangs used fake photos of attractive women in their profiles and sent friend requests to men on social media. After they became online friends, the chats would become sexual and eventually the men would be asked to turn on their camera and then masturbate during a video call.

The gangs recorded the videos and used them to blackmail the victims, police said.

If the victims refused to pay, the gangs would threaten to send the videos to their friends or family, or to make them public online.

Normally, the gangs concentrated on getting money from their victims and did not share the videos. However, recently some videos had been shared even though the victims had paid the money.