Taipei City Police Department

    The Recent “Nth Room Cases” that happened in South Korea from late 2018 to early 2020 saw scores of adults and adolescents alike fall victim to online blackmail, where their nudes were used to coerce them into subjecting themselves to sexual violation or filming even more physically and psychologically damaging footage. In Taiwan, the law states that online sexual extortion involving adolescents under the age of 18 will be prosecuted according to the Child and Youth Sexual Exploitation Prevention Act, while cases involving adults, the patterns of which include illegal acquisition of private photos, pictures or videos, and threatening to spread said medium in an attempt to extort the victim, will be prosecuted according to the Penal Code.
 
     In an effort to protect the integrity of private porn videos, the TCPD has led the country in instating specific protocol whilst dealing with cases involving infringement of private footage, which include strengthening culprit identification measures, reinforcing victim care guidelines, enhancing promotional initiatives both for crime prevention and relevant lifelines, and finally intensifying officer training. Through these combined efforts, it is hoped that officers on like cases will be able to follow through on certified protocol, and aside from informing victims on their rights and safety guidelines, be ready to refer them to various resources provided by the Taipei City Government’s Department of Social Welfare, which include social workers, legal relief and counseling.
 
    The TCPD would like to advise citizens to remember the following guidelines in case of online sexual coercion:
 

• Do not comply with instructions to meet in person, do not pay any requested amount of money, and do not film even more sexual footage.
• Do try to remember the address and name of the online site where private medium has been posted, and also transcribe relevant mobile phone app names, account names of suspected culprits. Provide this information to the police.
• In case of emergency, do call the following hotlines:

1.  110 case reporting hotline,
2.  113 women and child protection hotline,
3.  The Taipei City Center for Prevention of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault’s 24 hr hotline (02-23615295#226 or 227),
4.  The Taipei City Center for Suicide Prevention hotline (02-23212730),
5.  The iWIN (Institute of Watch Internet Network) hotline (02-25775118), and
6.  The Legal Aid Foundation hotline (02-4128518#3).

 
 
    Youth should just be colorful; but beware! It is ill-advised to send any private videos to anyone at any time, and for any reason, be it a spell of rashness, outside lures, infatuation or momentary insanity. The consequences of such actions are simply too dire to even imagine. The TCPD would also like to promote the Women’s and Children’s Protection Division’s Facebook fan page “婦幼福佑”, where related information is open to all citizens.
 
    Your safety and welfare are always foremost for the TCPD.