Extortion scams are on the rise, Tulsa Police say.

Lt. Justin Ritter says he’s gotten about 35 cases in just the past month, and he says there are probably many more that go unreported.

One of the most common extortion ploys are so-called “sextortion” scams that often happen via dating sites.

The perpetrator will trick the victim sending intimate photos and video and then threaten to send them to the victim’s family, friends, or employer if the victim doesn’t hand over money.

Another newer one, Lt. Ritter says, involves a scammer pretending to know where you live, by sending pictures of your house that they find on real estate websites or county property records websites, and then threatening to hurt you.

“They’ll get a clip of some piece of your property, send you an email or a message saying that they’re watching you and asking you to send money to stop. This is not real, it’s a scam,” Lt. Ritter said.

The best advice from police is pretty simple: if you get a text or email that seems odd or from someone you don’t know, just delete it and definitely don’t send them any information or pictures.