San Francisco police are asking the underage victims of two men accused of cyber-stalking and sextortion of children to come forward. East Bay residents Delaney Tang and Vincenz Sison were taken into custody on November 3 after they allegedly blackmailed dozens of minors with sexually explicit videos and photos .
As Infosecurity Magazine reports, Tang, who appeared in a U.S., was charged with child pornography and cyber-stalking. His alleged co-conspirator, Sison, was also charged with cyber-stalking.
Police began investigating the defendants last fall after the dean of students at a San Francisco high school told officers that multiple students had been sextorted with sexual videos and photos via social media. The SFPD Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) unit found that Tang had created dozens of accounts on social media platforms, using fake names and profile.
Tang then allegedly used these accounts to initiate conversations with victims between the ages of 11 and 14, often pretending to be a minor himself, while asking the minors to send him indecent photos and videos.
Furthermore, Tang allegedly used two methods to blackmail victims who refused to do what he asked. First, he allegedly used social media platforms to learn the approximate addresses of his victims and then threatened them with harm. Second, he allegedly received photos of the victims through their friends or acquaintances, while making them believe that he had other incriminating photos in his possession, which he intended to make public. Victims who sent photos and videos to Tang were threatened with having their data leaked ifthey refused to send him more such content.
On the other hand, Sison was allegedly used by Tang to contact the victims and convince them to take more of the incriminating photos and videos. He often pressured the victims for months.
Investigators have so far identified eight minor victims located in San Francisco, Northern California and Utah. Police are urging other victims to contact the SFPD's Special Victims Unit.
The usernames used by Tang and Sison on social media were the following: thedrunkg1raffe, jimmynguyen0950, anthonytran800, bobbychao5150, davidnguyen850, kevin_luong5150, brianchao0150 and delaneyytang.
