Northern Ireland

Woman arrested over allegations of blackmail of escort website users

 A 31-year-old woman has been arrested on suspicion of five counts of blackmail
 A 31-year-old woman has been arrested on suspicion of five counts of blackmail  A 31-year-old woman has been arrested on suspicion of five counts of blackmail

A woman has been arrested over allegations of blackmail involving users of an escort website.

The 31-year-old was arrested on suspicion of five counts of blackmail.

It comes after detectives in Antrim received a number of reports of online blackmail incidents involving users of a local adult escort website.

The allegations involved men who, after talking or texting with a woman, were threatened with details of their contact being disclosed to family and friends if they did not pay sums of money.

The PSNI has urged any more potential victims to contact detectives.

"It is believed that there are more victims who have not contacted police due to the sensitive or embarrassing nature of the incidents and detectives are appealing for them to contact police now," a PSNI spokesman said.

"This type of crime is taken extremely seriously and anyone coming to police with information can be reassured that they will be treated professionally and their information will be treated in confidence."

Detectives in Antrim can be contacted on 101 or a report can be made online at www.psni.police.uk/makeareport