Ohemaa Tina Cautions Ghanaians And Celebrities Of New Form Of Blackmail Via WhatsApp Video Call
A Ghanaian songwriter and Gospel artiste, Ohemaa Tina has cautioned Ghanaians especially, celebrities to be aware of a new form of blackmail some unscrupulous persons are using to dupe their unsuspecting victims.
The Gospel artiste, who nearly fell victim of this form of blackmail, said she was fortunate and believed she was saved by ‘Grace’ from the evil hands of the blackmailers.
Narrating her ordeal, she said she received a video call via WhatsApp from an unknown person and when she picked the call, she realized that the person on the other side of the call covered her face from showing.
According to her few minutes into the call which was not so clear due to network hitches, the caller hung up whist telling her (Ohemaa Tina) to call him back.
Interestingly, the caller made a video recording of his victim (Ohemaa Tina) without her realizing that, the call she received was a plot used to record and eventually be used to blackmail her.
“Later he sent me messages that he has a video recording of me and that if I didn’t call him back on WhatsApp video, he was going to do an article attached to the video and share on our page and other social media pages,” she said.
Ohemaa Tina said because the Network was poor, she couldn’t see the caller’s face, but he was able to record her and do some editing to the video which he shared on one of the WhatsApp pages.
“He kept calling me to call him back but I told him I will not call him since I don’t know him and have no business with him. It became a bunter between the two of us. I told him I will not call him back. So he later sent me a message that he will post my video on a page which he did and when I checked, I am part of that group,” she narrated.
She also mentioned that the page on which the caller shared the said video and article is a Christian like page where people share the Word of God, quotations of the Bible and other words of exhortations.
She said: “I am sure he is part of the page or either he is the administrator of the group. I called someone I know on the page and she also told me she doesn’t know the administrator and when I called the administrator on several occasions, the calls were not answered.”
She revealed that her blackmailer in his article which he posted on the page attached to the said video, claimed “I promised to give him money when he shows me his naked self via video call.”
“It then occurred to me that all the times he was pestering I call him back, was a Trap he set for me so he can get more videos of me. Luckily I was then in the studio so anytime he calls and sees the others around, he drops the line. As he posted what he wrote on the page, I also took a screenshot of the messages he sent to me after the video call and posted all the conversations on the page. That was what saved me.”
She lamented that should she be at home and maybe in bed naked, the caller would have succeeded in getting what he wanted.
Ohemaa Tina advised Ghanaians to be very careful with video calls as that is a new trend and tool people are using to blackmail others.
She also advised that, “Always cover your camera when there is a video call coming through to you, see the person calling first before opening up to the caller because receiving the call without taking precautions might be your own undoing.”
She also charged married couples to be very vigilant since most of these blackmailers are targeting couples and celebrities especially “we those in the Gospel Music Industry.”
By Prosper Agbenyega
