Arrest for extorting money from users of sex contacts' websites

The police's robberies squad opened an investigation following a complaint lodged by one of these users. He informed the police that he had been sent texts demanding payments of between 500 and 3,000 euros for having had virtual contacts with women on an escorts' website. He was told that he had to pay in order to avoid problems - for himself and for his family.

Officers traced the source of the messages to a phone line in Mallorca and then proceeded to arrest the 20-year-old and to charge him with extortion.

A dozen other victims have been identified. They are in Mallorca and on the mainland. The police indicate that there were many more. They were being bombarded with threatening messages, and many of them were married men who opted to pay up.