The FBI released a report earlier this month about an uptick in financially motivated “sextortion” scams, mainly targeting young boys.
These schemes typically involve a predator pretending to be an attractive young girl, befriending teen boys online and through gaming platforms, FBI officials explained.
During these schemes, such predators will trick teens into exchanging sexually explicit material or persuade the teens that the predator already has it.
In a release, investigators said that scammers will then demand money to keep the explicit material from being sent to the victim’s family and friends.
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According to the FBI, there has been a 20% increase in reported sextortion incidents targeting minors between September 2022 and March 2023, as compared to the same timeframe the year prior.
The release shows that between October 2021 and March 2023, investigators received over 13,000 reports of financial sextortion of underage victims. At least 20 suicides have resulted from such cases, investigators added.
“Minors and young adults caught in this trap often feel isolated, embarrassed, and cornered with seemingly no way out,” the release reads. “In some cases, victims have turned to self-harm and suicide.”
The University of Central Florida reported an alarming rise in sextortion cases involving students on campus earlier this month, as well.
“So a lot of what we see on our end is a student will receive a friend request on some kind of social media platform, most likely Tiktok or Instagram, anywhere where the perpetrator can see a picture or video of the victim,” Dr. Laura Valle, manager of victim services, told News 6. “And they’ll reach out and say, ‘Hey, I came across your profile, and you seem really cute.’”
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FBI detectives said that offenders are usually outside of the U.S., mainly in West African countries like Nigeria and the Ivory Coast or Southeast Asian countries, such as the Philippines.
Anyone being exploited in a sextortion scheme is urged to do the following:
- Understand that they are not at fault for the scheme
- Ask for help from a trusted adult or law enforcement before sending money or more images to a predator. Cooperating with predators rarely stops the blackmail.
- Report the predator’s account via the platform’s safety feature
- Block the predator from contacting you
- Report the scheme immediately to the FBI or local law enforcement
- Save all interactions with the predator, as these can help law enforcement identify and stop them
- If sexually explicit images have been shared, visit the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s Take It Down tool or Is Your Content Out There? for potential removal
Additionally, anyone who believes that they or someone else is a victim of a sextortion scheme is urged to contact law enforcement or report it to the FBI by calling 1-800-CALL-FBI.
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