Cybercriminal gangs are targeting the families of teenagers who committed suicide after being coerced into sharing nude photos of themselves.
The gangs are demanding the families pay money to ensure that sexualized photos of their deceased children aren’t released, according to an FBI report referenced by Forbes.
FBI bulletins have warned of this practice, which is referred to as “sextortion.”
“Sextortion is a form of child sexual exploitation where children are threatened or blackmailed, most often with the possibility of sharing with the public a nude or sexual images of them, by a person who demands additional sexual content, sexual activity or money from the child,” according to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC).
The FBI says it has seen a “huge increase” in the number of sextortion cases involving children and teens. NCMEC says that between 2019 and 2021, the number of reports involving extortion more than doubled.
Sextortion typically begins online, starting through direct messages on social media platforms, or any site, app, or messaging platform where people can communicate.
Young people often believe they are communicating with someone their own age who is interested in a relationship or is offering something of value, the FBI says.
The criminal will get the child or teen to send sexual photos or videos through deceit, coercion, or by some other means. After the blackmailer has received one or more photos or videos, they threaten to publish them in order to get the victim to send more images.
“The FBI has been begging parents to pay attention to the ‘sextortion’ of all young people but of teenage boys specifically,” Eliza Bleu, a human trafficking survivor and advocate, told Timcast. “I personally hate the FBI but I agree with them on this issue. I urge parents to speak to their children about internet safety today.”
A search warrant related to an FBI investigation into a sextortion ring found one campaign organized through Facebook private messages. According to Forbes, the search warrant cited “a high rate of suicide in minor male victims of financially motivated sextortion schemes,” and that victims “committed suicide within a relatively short time period, sometimes within hours, of the sextortion occurring.”
Federal officials say that most extortion crimes are originating in Nigeria and that the operations are growing in size and sophistication — one operation has phone farms running scams to as many as 100 devices at a time, 24 hours a day.
Bleu says there are documentaries on trafficking and sextortion which may resonate with older children. She also recommends considering resources from organizations like NCMEC and their initiative NetSmartz, which helps children become educated on potential online risks.
“It is every parents’ worst nightmare to lose a child to suicide. I applaud the brave survivors and parents who are speaking out,” Bleu said. “They are helping to shift the conversation in a positive way that could potentially prevent the crime from happening to another child in the first place.”
