A man was charged by the Kandal prosecutor today for allegedly extorting $43,000 from the wife of a classmate who had sent him naked photographs of herself.

Pha Phanna was arrested on Monday and charged with “blackmail”, said Tin Sochetra, spokesman for the Kandal provincial court. Phanna could face between five and 10 years in prison, he said.

Eav Chamroeun, provincial police chief, said in a Facebook post on Tuesday that the suspect befriended the victim’s husband during a Korean language class they both attended in 2017 in Kampong Chhnang province.

Chamroeun said the victim, who worked in South Korea, and the suspect started chatting on Facebook and began a secret relationship in June 2017.

When she sent naked photographs of herself, he extorted her for a total of $43,000, threatening to show the images to her family and husband. Chamroeun today said the case had been forwarded to the court and declined to comment further.

Sochetra said she had complied “many times” with the the extortion requests until she ran out of money and returned to her homeland on January 28. “She came back to Cambodia and told this story to her family, because she thought she had no ability to pay the suspect anymore,” he said.