Every day, at least one Costa Rican claims to be a victim ofextortion in the national territory.
This is revealed by the figures of the Judicial Investigation Agency (OIJ), an entity that – on average – deals with 33 complaints for extortion cases each month.
According to Emilio Segura, head of the section of various crimes, extortion has increased in the country. The modalities of sextortion, debts, tolls and simple extortions are the most common.
For example, in the year 2015 168 complaints were reported, while in 2016 the cases amounted to 210. As of June 2017, complaints and cases totaled 125.
The situations occur mainly in San José, where illegal loans lead the list. The most outstanding loaners were two Canadians brothers who lived in Escazú and apparently intimidated merchants and taxi drivers.
“Sextortion” or extortion by images or sexual videos of men who are deceived in digital platforms is the second most-used modality for this crime.
According to Segura, extortion figures range from 500,000 colones and can reach up to 15 million colones.