KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA: She had an online relationship with a man from Singapore for six months before calling it off to be just friends.

However, the man then began blackmailing her with pictures and videos of her in revealing clothes, threatening to send them to her friends, family and colleagues if she refused to get back together with him.

She had agreed to strip for him after much persuasion, not knowing that he could capture the screen shots from their webcam chats.

The 25-year-old clerk from Petaling Jaya, who wanted to be known as Nat, said the man first threatened her on Oct 18 with the less revealing pictures, and said that he would send the naked photos and videos of her later.

Victim: Nat (left) showing Chong one of the pictures her Internet "friend" sent her in Kuala Lumpur yesterday

"I was shocked and very disappointed when I saw the photos. Why did he treat me like this? How can a man do this?" she said at a press conference at the MCA's Public Complaints and Services Department here yesterday.

"In his opinion, I had treated him badly by breaking up with him. So he gave me a choice. Give him another chance or he would send out the pictures," she said.

She said although the man had called her early yesterday morning to say that he had changed his mind about sending out the pictures, she could not trust him anymore.

According to her, the man was a business consultant who travelled to Malaysia often.

They had met online in February but have never met in person.

She said she did not want to continue the relationship due to communication problems between them, and reported the matter to department head Datuk Michael Chong as she did not want more girls to suffer as she has.

Chong said there were six cases of blackmail via the Internet so far this year and five last year. --THE STAR