Man jailed 4 months for threat to upload sex video online

SINGAPORE - A Malaysian national who threatened to put online a video of a woman performing intimate acts on her boyfriend if she did not pay him $1,000 was jailed for four months on Friday.

Shasvin Raj Sathiyalagan, 22, admitted to threatening a 38-year-old woman with injury to her reputation on June 14.

A district court heard that that six days before the incident, Shasvin Raj had called the victim from a Malaysian line and claimed he was her Facebook friend. He told her that during a drinking session with a Vicky, who she acknowledged was her boyfriend, he had found an intimate video of them.

He sent her the video through messaging platform WhatsApp and demanded that she pay him $1,000 in exchange for the video. He also provided an account number for the victim to transfer the money to.

When he called her two days later, the victim asked for more time to raise the money and he gave her until June 15 to do so. On June 14, he came to Singapore and used a relative's phone to call the victim but she did not take the calls.

Instead, she sent a message to find out who the caller was. That evening, he sent her text messages threatening to upload the video on Facebook and YouTube and also deliver a copy of the video to her house if she failed to transfer $1,000 to his bank account by 3pm the following day.

The victim reported the matter to the police, who arrested Shasvin Raj on July 31.

He could have been jailed for up to two years and/or fined for criminal intimidation.

Join ST's WhatsApp Channel and get the latest news and must-reads.