Imagine your phone buzzing. It’s a whatsapp from a number you don’t know.

Ok, weird, probably a scammer, but you take a look.

It’s a stranger, demanding one thousand dollars in bitcoin to release your dick from a hardened steel cage.

It sounds like something out of Black Mirror, but it is very real.

And it is prompting some in the adult industry to call for better safety standards from manufacturers, arguing they are putting people’s bodies at risk.

Want to lock your penis in a cage? There’s an app for that.

Chastity cages are not super mainstream sex toys, but they are pretty common in the BDSM community.

They largely do what they promise – lock your penis in a cage, to prevent you masturbating, having sex, or even getting a full erection.

Like a lot of other sex toys, they are going online.

The ‘Cellmate’ does not rely on an old-fashioned padlock and key, but rather uses an electronic key – meaning the wearer can hand control to anyone, anywhere, through an app.

It recently attracted attention after it was revealed hackers were able to gain access to people’s devices through the app, and lock them.

They were contacting users, and demanding a ransom of around A$1000 in bitcoin.

Terrifyingly, the device doesn’t have any kind of emergency release mechanism. Which led to reports of some people trying to use bolt cutters to get it off.

But thankfully, it seems a lot of the people hacked were not wearing the device at the time it was hacked and locked.

The manufacturer, Qiui, published a video demonstrating how to unlock the device with a screwdriver.

The company told Hack that they’ve updated the security features in version 3.0 of the app.

‘I like to be the boss in the bedroom, not the hacker’

Internet-connected sex toys are not new. In fact, they are really popular – and a global pandemic has helped them boom.

They range from simple toys like vibrators that can be remotely controlled online, to more intense toys like the Cellmate.

With many…