Police investigate sex photo letters

By Tom Qian  |   2008-12-19  |     ONLINE EDITION

POLICE in Jiangsu Province are investigating a potential blackmail case after 25 letters that contained sex photos were sent to government officials.

A worker at the Fuzimiao Post Office in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu, found the letters and office managers reported to police, a newspaper reported today.

After a preliminary investigation, police are considering the letters as a form of blackmail, according to the Modern Express report.

A worker surnamed Tu thought the 25 letters looked suspicious when he opened a mail box about 4pm yesterday. All the letters were similar in appearance and addressed to government officials with such words as "family letter," and the sender's information was listed as "sister in law" and "address inside."

Based on the handwriting, Tu thought the letters were from one person. Tu reported the case to his managers, who decided to call police.

Police opened one letter, which contained a photo of a man and a woman having sexual intercourse. The picture was unclear, but the man was facing the camera while the woman's face was beyond recognition, the report said.

A note asked the recipient to deposit 80,000 yuan (US$11,679) into an account as hush money. The letter said she was in Shanghai treating a serious disease and in urgent need of money.

If the receiver didn't remit the money in time, she would send the photo to the media as well as recipient's office. The note included the Shanghai branch, bank account number and surname Zhou, according to the report.

Police found similar letters and photos in the other 24 letters. The only difference was the image of the man was different.

The letters were sent to officials across the nation including Suzhou in Jiangsu Province, Huabei and Henan in central China.

A recipient in Suzhou was confirmed as a deputy director of a bureau, and looked the same as the person in the sex photo, the report said.

Police told Modern Express that the photos were very likely altered on a computer in an effort to blackmail the recipients.

Similar cases have been uncovered in other parts of the country.