The FBI has seen a huge increase in the number of cases involving children and teens being threatened and coerced into sending explicit images online—a crime called sextortion.
Sextortion can start on any site, app, messaging platform, or game where people meet and communicate. In some cases, the first contact from the criminal will be a threat. The person may claim to already have a revealing picture or video of a child that will be shared if the victim does not send more pictures.
More often, however, this crime starts when young people believe they are communicating with someone their own age who is interested in a relationship or with someone who is offering something of value.
After the criminals have one or more videos or pictures, they threaten to publish that content, or they threaten violence, to get the victim to produce more images. The shame, fear, and confusion children feel when they are caught in this cycle often prevents them from asking for help or reporting the abuse. Caregivers and young people should understand how the crime occurs and openly discuss online safety.
Sextortion is the fastest-growing scam affecting teenagers globally and has been linked to more than 27 suicides in the US alone. Many of the scammers appear to be from Nigeria – where authorities are under pressure to do more. Jordan DeMay, 17, died in March 2022 after sending nude photographs of himself to somebody he thought was a girl who had befriended him on social media. The recipients instead were Samuel and Samson Ogoshi, who were operating a hacked Instagram account and demanded $1,000 from the teenager after threatening to send the images to his friends and family. It has been two years since Jenn Buta’s son Jordan killed himself after being targeted by scammers who lured him into sending them explicit images of himself, and then tried to blackmail him. The 17-year-old’s basketball jerseys, clothes, posters and bedsheets are just how he left them. James Woods, a 17-year-old college-bound track star, had just gotten his driver’s license and posed for his senior yearbook photo when an online predator targeted him on Instagram. James received 200 messages in less than 20 hours, according to his mother, Tamia Woods. “It ranged anywhere from ‘I own you,’ to ‘you need to take your own life.'”Rohan Cosgriff was 17 when he was found dead at his home near Ballarat in 2022. Police later found he was the victim of a sextortion scam. In his pocket there was a note that read: “I made a huge mistake. I’m sorry.” Police later discovered that in the two days before his death, the teen was a victim of sexual extortion.Gavin Guffey sent a message to his younger brother and friends in the predawn hours of July 27 last year. It was short and cryptic: The heart-shaped symbol of love – <3 – on a black background. Minutes later, in a hallway bathroom a few steps from his room, the 17-year-old fatally shot himself. His father, Brandon Guffey, says he was at their home in Rock Hill, South Carolina, when he heard a loud thud. It sounded like someone had slammed a bowling ball to the floor. He rushed to the bathroom and found his oldest son bleeding on the floor between the tub and the toilet. For weeks, the grieving family searched for signs of anything they’d missed. Then they found out that scammers masquerading as a young woman had sent Gavin nude photos – and asked him for similar images of himself. Once Gavin shared photos with them, they blackmailed him with a threat to publicize them if he didn’t pay.
Sex is one of the basic human needs along with safety, hunger, sleep etc. Being hungry is not a shame, the same applies to sex. So why would you be ashamed because you’re social, sexual beings as everybody else? And everybody else is doing it as well. Everything is on the Internet, including sexual messages, pictures and videos that people exchange. People find their partners on the Internet. I know that at that moment, you can’t think of it, you feel like the whole world is looking at you, laughing at you, you’re a disappointment to the people around you, but that is only in your mind. Everybody else is just like you. Dear friends, always report them and let them publish. Those who love you, would love you the same. Those who don’t love you, you shouldn’t care about. Normal people would look at you the same. Those who are not normal, shouldn’t be your interest. You didn’t break any law. They are the only ones who break the law.
