Almost two-thirds of teenagers globally have been targeted for “sextortion” schemes by criminals seeking to pressure victims into sexual activity or extort money, according to recent research.
“In both scenarios, the resulting photos and videos were then used to threaten or blackmail the young people, with abusers demanding money, gift cards, more sexual imagery, or other personal information in supposed exchange for not releasing the material to the young person’s family and friends,” the report said.
Catfishing refers to pretending to be someone else to find victims to exploit online.
According to the FBI, sextortion begins when a predator reaches out to a young person online through gaming sites, dating apps, or social media accounts.
The predator then acts like someone in the age group of the minor who is interested in beginning a relationship or is offering something of value. The adult can use inducements like gifts or money and other methods to get the young person to send sexually explicit images or videos.
The predator then asks for more such content. When the child refuses, the criminal can threaten to publish the content in their possession online or warn them about other harms they can inflict, pressuring the victims to send more explicit images and videos.
The Snap Inc. study surveyed over 6,000 respondents from six nations, including the United States. Seventy-one percent of respondents who got trapped in a catfishing scheme were asked to share intimate imagery or personal info. While a net 31 percent shared intimate imagery, 30 percent revealed their personal information.
Twenty-five percent of the victims provided private information as well, which refers to details about their family and friends.
“Scammers may not be looking solely for immediate financial (or other) return from the target. Rather, their goal might be to widen their net to ensnare more people or to try to entice others for sexual relationships or other interactions,” the report said.
“The photos or videos are then publicly circulated on social media or pornographic websites, for the purpose of harassing victims or sextortion schemes,” the agency said while urging people to “exercise caution” when posting photos and videos of themselves online.
According to the FBI, individuals who engage in sextortion schemes against youngsters “have studied how to reach and target children and teens.”
“One person the FBI put in prison for this crime was a man in his 40s who worked as a youth minister so he could learn how teens talked to each other,” the agency said.
Reaching Out for Help
According to the WeProtect report, 56 percent of catfished or hacked victims are male.“For young males who have experienced a sextortion incident—and the majority are males—they regularly tell us that when they share the situation with their parents, they feel relieved,” said Arda Gerkens, president of the Dutch child abuse hotline Offlimits.
“We advise them to report to hotlines and helplines; to report to the platforms; and to tell their parents, a friend, or a trusted adult. They should not be going through this alone.”
The study found that 56 percent of respondents said that they or their victimized friends sought help after being threatened by approaching their friends, parents, or trusted adults. Fifty-one percent reported the incident to the platform, law enforcement, or a hotline.
Meanwhile, the FBI advises parents to monitor the online activities of their children as well as run frequent searches online to know how much information about their kids is publicly available.
Sextortion of Minors
According to a December 2022 press release by the FBI, law enforcement had received more than 7,000 reports of online financial sextortion of minors in the past year. This resulted in at least 3,000 victims, mostly boys, and over a dozen suicides.A large percentage of such schemes were found to originate in nations outside the United States, primarily in West African countries like Ivory Coast and Nigeria.
In NCMEC’s earlier analysis, the dominant motive of the offenders was found to be aimed at getting more explicit images of children. However, reports from early 2022 showed that 79 percent of offenders were now after money.
“Kids, teenagers, young adults, and even adults can be a target of sextortion. We urge you to have discussions about this and have a plan for your children to reach out if it does happen to them,” she said.
