Loose Women panellists Coleen Nolan and Nadia Sawalha have opened up about being targeted by scammers who threatened to leak intimate videos of them ‘enjoying some alone time.’
Speaking on the ITV panel show, the pair candidly revealed the terrifying ordeals they had been subjected to by fraudsters trying to extort money from them.
The topic of sex extortion has been circulating in recent weeks, as evidence emerges that sex scammers drive teenagers to take their own lives out of fear of what would happen if their intimate photos were leaked.
Actress and TV personality Nadia Sawalha shared that she received a ‘sextortion’ email just days earlier, beginning crudely: ‘Hello pervert.’
The 60-year-old said: ‘The email read “We have all the videos of you having a happy time – giving yourself some alone time.”
‘And I thought, “I don’t think I have any videos of that.” But then I felt fear again because, with deep fakes, could there be?’
‘Deep fakes’ are videos of a person in which their face or body has been digitally altered so they appear to be someone else.
For example, someone’s face could be digitally applied to the body of someone else performing a sex act – although the innocent party had no involvement at all.
Loose Women panellists Coleen Nolan and Nadia Sawalha have revealed they were targeted by scammers who threatened to leak intimate videos of them ‘enjoying some alone time
‘I felt anxious,’ Nadia continued. ‘I’m a 60-year-old woman who’s listened to countless podcasts about this.
‘I know the information, I’ve read stuff about it, I’ve read terrifying stories about children killing themselves.’
She added: ‘Because I had all that information, by the time I got to the end of the email, I simply deleted the email because I knew that this was a phishing expedition.’
In the modern dating era, the panellists said, it is not uncommon for youngsters to share sexual photos or videos with their partners – meaning they are much more susceptible to such scams.
Singer Coleen Nolan, also 60, revealed she had ‘the exact same’ experience around 18 months ago.
Coleen explained how panic set in when she realised someone could have hacked her phone.
‘Reading down, it said, “We’ve got all your videos and what you’ve done.” I was just like, “Please can you send them to me, I’d be interested in seeing them as I’ve never made one in my life.”
‘But it was horrendous,’ she added, while Nadia said: ‘You do feel panicked, don’t you?’
Coleen explained how panic set in when she realised someone could have hacked her phone
Coleen continued: ‘I knew I hadn’t made the videos but had they hacked into my phone? Were they going to lie on that?
‘They said they were going to send it to my family and my work and kids. I did click in and then I deleted it.’
The discussion follows a powerful Channel 4 documentary titled Hunting My Sextortion Scammer, which sees Rizzle Kicks musician Jordan Stephens fly thousands of miles to confront a fraudster.
The 33-year-old, who is one half of the pop duo alongside Harley Alexander-Sule, also 33, ‘gets himself sextorted’ to expose the tactics criminals use to sexually blackmail young British men and boys.
He tracks down his blackmailer and attempts to confront them.
In an exclusive clip obtained by MailOnline, the music star tries to keep his cool as he has a calm conversation with his scammer on the phone via Instagram.
Jordan tells viewers: ‘It sounds like my sextorter is getting more and more wound up,’ as the camera zooms in on their conversation on the social media app.
The scammer messages him: ‘Show me your account now,’ to which Jordan replies: ‘No, I’ve already paid.’
A new Channel 4 documentary, titled Hunting My Sextortion Scammer, sees Rizzle Kicks musician Jordan Stephens fly thousands of miles to confront a fraudster
The sextorter tells Jordan: ‘No, is not working bro’ alongside three angry face emojis.
Moments later the singer gets a call and answers with: ‘Hello.’
The scammer replies: ‘Let tell you something now. I swear down with my life if you don’t even try to understand me, I swear down, I’ll destroy your life.
‘It’s better you get me $200 now.’
Jordan replies: ‘I gave it to you! I gave it to you!’
He then tells viewers: ‘I need my sextorter to believe he’ll get his money if he clicks on that share location link on our fake gift card site.’
The scammer says: ‘I don’t know how to redeem it. Do you want me to destroy your life?’
Jordan tells him in a panic: ‘I don’t have any more money. You put the code in.’
‘It’s not working, I swear down,’ the fraudster says. ‘I’ve done it several times. It’s not working.
‘You should redeem the card at your place and then send me $200 back. Then I free you!’
Loose Women airs weekdays on ITV1 from 12:30pm and is available to stream on ITVX
