Police Arrest Ateneo Grad Over P50K Extortion Try On Kiefer Ravena Over Nude Scandal

The Philippine National Police Anti-Cybercrime Group (ACG) arrested Ateneo de Manila University graduate Kristoffer Ng, 22, on Wednesday, March 29, in Eastwood, Quezon City in an entrapment operation after the student allegedly tried to extort P50,000 from former Blue Eagles star Kiefer Ravena in exchange for information regarding who circulated nude photos of the latter.

According to the ACG, Ng supposedly pretended to be a woman to be able to chat with Ravena online, then persuaded the basketball player to send nude pictures of himself.

Ravena’s chatmate then tried to blackmail the latter, which led the basketball player to coordinate with the ACG while chatting with the suspect.

“He was trying to scare the victim by saying he would ruin Ravena’s career. He was scared… During the exchanges of communication, exchanges of messages, we’re able to determine that this person is one and the same,” said PCSUPT. Jay Guillermo, the Assistant Chief of the Anti-Cybercrime Operations and Training Division of the ACG.

In an interview with News5, Ravena recalled the ordeal.

“People were messaging me to warn me that if I didn’t do what they wanted me to, they would turn it into a scandal… Of course I was scared by that,” Ravena said.

He added that he neither knew Ng personally, nor was he connected to the suspect on social media.

Ravena hoped that the suspect, now that he had been arrested, would no longer be able to victimize others.

“Hopefully this is the last time he tries to blackmail anyone,” Ravena said.

For his part, Ng denied that he was blackmailing Ravena and said that he was just asking for money from the basketball player in exchange for information about who was behind the scandal.

“I didn’t take the video. I was just supposed to give information in exchange of money,” Ng said.

He added that it was his friend, who sold the video, was the one who knew who was blackmailing Ravena.

The ACG reported that the materials that had been circulated were photos, and not a video.

Ng was now facing robbery-extortion charges, which had the corresponding jail time of up to 20 years.

“Any violations of the Revised Penal Code and special laws, through, or with, the use of communication technology, the penalty are one degree higher. If the judge finds that he committed robbery-extortion and the penalty is six to twelve years… it will become 12 to 20 years,” Guillermo explained.

Ravena, meanwhile, took the incident as a lesson.

“We should not be just doubly cautious, but three times as cautious. We never know there are really people like that… We must really be vigilant in a world of social media,” Ravena said.

Source: Interaksyon