POLICE investigating the death of a teenager who took his own life after being blackmailed by strangers online have been involved in a major international operation targeting cyber-crime in the Philippines.
Daniel Perry, 17, from Dunfermline, Fife, died in July last year after falling victim to an alleged "sextortion" attempt, in which internet users are lured into webcam chats and then blackmailed with the footage.
Inquiries by detectives from Police Scotland revealed an electronic online trail, which led to the Philippines and links to organised crime groups there.
Authorities in the Philippines have now revealed that, over the past two days, they swooped on a number of organised gangs involved in cyber-crime and have arrested a large number of people as part of an operation codenamed Strikeback.
They arrested more than 50 people in a series of raids, according to reports. Several of the arrests are said to be linked to the Scottish case.
Police Scotland, who played no direct part in the enforcement action, said they worked with a number of international agencies to provide the information they had to the authorities in the Philippines to help with their operation. Those agencies included Interpol, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Inquiries by police in the Philippines in relation to Daniel's death are continuing and Scots officers said they will keep working with the authorities in Manila.
Assistant Chief Constable Malcolm Graham, of major crime and public protection, said: "Daniel's death last year led to a major criminal inquiry which ultimately led officers to the Philippines.
"A young Scottish teenager lost his life as a result of this online activity."
Daniel was said to have believed he was talking to an American girl online but was told by blackmailers that the conversations had been recorded and would be shared with friends and family unless he paid up.
In the wake of the latest police operation, his mother, Nicola Perry, said: "Whoever was at the other end of that computer did not know Daniel.
"They didn't care that he was a loving and caring person."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article