FBI warns of increase in teen sextortion scams

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https://parentsecurityonline.com/childs ... ion-scams/

...it’s hard not to ignore recent FBI warnings of a “huge increase” in sextortion scams targeting teens, especially boys 14 to 17. The Cyberbullying Research Center, which has always been good about keeping things in perspective and reporting only carefully vetted studies, says 5% of teens have been the target of sextortion, and only one-third told their parents. The research center also reported that “males were significantly more likely to have experienced sextortion (both as a victim and as an offender)” and “adolescents who identified as non-heterosexual were more than twice as likely to be the victim of sextortion.”
Sextortion cases for financial reasons targeting teens, according to former Internet Crimes Against Children Commander Joe Laramie, is on the rise and is often perpetrated by organized crime operating outside the country. I’ve known Laramie for years, and unlike some in law enforcement, he’s not prone to exaggeration, so it concerns me that he said “I’m very alarmed about this.”

Although they can be related, sextortion is different from so-called revenge porn. While revenge porn is typically perpetrated by a former partner, often in retribution to a breakup, sextortion, according to the FBI. is a serious crime that occurs when someone threatens to distribute nude or compromising images for gain, usually financial or sexual, including wanting more images or contact. The perpetrator are often adults posing as teens, but there have been cases of young people victimizing other youth. Either way, it’s a crime with potentially devastating consequences.

Sometimes the perpetrators work in teams. Cyberbullying Research Center co-director Sameer Hinduja says, “We’ve seen cases where you have a girl that might be working with a man, and once the picture is sent — of course solicited by the girl — the whole act is handed over to the man who then proceeds with the sextortion.”

“The aggressor seems to know the words in order to capture the victim’s attention,” added Hinduja. “Eventually it devolves into flirting and then of course the requesting of sexual images and perhaps the offering of sending their own sexual images in order to titillate the teen.”

The advice in this column comes from the Guide to Teen Sextortion, published this week by ConnectSafely.org, a non-profit internet safety organization that I lead. It was co-written by our COO Maureen Kochan and me with technical advice from Joe Laramie.

Even though it may be an uncomfortable conversation, parents should speak with their kids about this crime and encourage them to come to you if they suspect a criminal may have targeted them. You may want to let them know proactively that they won’t be in trouble if they messed up. Explain that protecting them and helping them is more important than punishing them. The criminal is counting on them to feel embarrassed, afraid, or isolated, so it’s important for the teen to have backup. “Let them know that no problem is too big that you can’t make it through,” Laramie said.

Encourage them to block or ignore messages from strangers and never communicate with someone who wants to “meet up” on another game or platform. Criminals often lure victims from a well-monitored online environment to one where dangerous messages are less likely to be detected, such as an encrypted messaging platform.

Remind your children to never talk about sex with strangers. Encourage them to block anyone who says, posts, or does something that makes them feel uncomfortable...

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