Financial Sextortion targeting children has been reported as the fastest growing crime in North America and Australia. According to reports from the FBI, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI), Financial Sextortion is occurring at an alarming rate, which I can attest based on my professional experience and research.
· FBI reports more than 30 youth suicides since 2021.
· FTC advised 65% of youth are targeted.
· FBI reported a 1000% increase in the past 18 months.
· Canada receives 50 reports per week.
· Australia reported a 300% increase in the past year.
· NCRI reported a 7200% increase in sextortion targeting children from 2021.
Sextortion is a cyber related fraud, which has several iterations. The commonality is victims exchange sexually explicit pictures, “nudes” which are used to extort them. Financially motivated Sextortion’s main target are males ages 13 to 25. Females are also targeted, but the difference in cases targeting females is the female victims were extorted into sending additional photographs and videos, and in some cases meeting in person.
I have spoken with hundreds of victims. Victims as young as 13 and as old as 50. What concerns me from my experiences is most victims admitted that they considered suicide because of their interactions with the perpetrators. “When does the feeling of wanting to crawl into a hole and die start to fade”? -Victim
In one case, I followed up with a male victim. The male individual has been a victim of Sextortion for the past 6 months. I was the first person he had talked to about it, and prior to my call he had decided he was going to end his life. “It doesn’t feel real because it has been so long, I have been dealing with it. I was stressed after I cut them off yesterday but today, I feel I am better.”
During a presentation on cybercrime recently affecting youth, a mother at the presentation told me it was not possible for her son to be a victim, “Not her son, she would know”. I challenged her to ask her sixteen-year-old son about Sextortion. She called me the very next day after she found her son had been targeted on multiple occasions. He was never victimized because two of his friends who had been victimized were able to prevent the abuse. The mother said she had a great conversation with her son which has improved their overall communication and trust.
My experiences have shown me there is a general lack of awareness about Sextortion, and education and awareness are the best defenses available with applicable laws to prevent Sextortion from occurring. In Sextortion cases, suspects open social media accounts and use pictures taken from those accounts. It is very easy to upload pictures from locations like, Only Fans or any public account. The suspects can add any name to those pictures and pretend to be a young female from the United States. Many may not be aware that there are little protections through social media platforms. The courts have ruled in Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 prevents social media from being held liable for their individual users. This means social media is not held responsible for anything that happens on their accounts and are not required to provide platform security.
Sextortion can happen on any platform, at any time, but it is common for perpetrators to start on Instagram and then move to Snapchat. Instagram does not have an option of making a user’s friends private. The suspects use the lists of friends in the extortion later. After contact the suspect moves the chat to Snapchat. Snapchat can provide a false sense of security with users believing the photographs will disappear. Suspects send their “catfished nudes” first to entice the victim to reciprocate. If pictures are sent, they will either capture the pictures by video or screenshot. The next communication the victim receives could be:

“Hey, I have your nudes and everything needed to ruin your life. I have screenshot all your followers and tags and those that comment on your post. I can send this nude to everyone in your city till it goes viral or send this all females on your list and your family if u don’t cooperate”

The victim is often bombarded with more threats. The objective is to put the victim into a state of panic. The more panic the more likely they will pay, but this is where the danger lies for teens. In a report from Mass General Hospital in Boston, Dr. Scott Hadland explains “Teen brains are still developing so when something catastrophic happens, like a personal picture is released to people online, it’s hard for them to look past that moment and understand that in the big scheme of things they’ll be able to get through this”.
The most crucial aspect to Sextortion prevention and recovery if it does happen is that teens know they have someone to turn to. There are online resources for them such as calling 1-800-CALL-FBI, contacting organizations like Thorn, and even Reddit. Having an open line of communication with your kids is imperative in the fight against Sextortion. Suspects use emotion and secrecy to isolate and manipulate their victims to not report.
If it does happen, think of phrases like Stop, Drop, and Roll. For Sextortion the phrase is Stop, Block, and Report.
· Stop: breathe, know you’re going to be ok. Do not pay-If payment is made they will ask for more money.
· Block all contact: maybe delete your own social media.
· Report: report their profile. Report to your support source whoever that is. Report to law enforcement. Screenshot all communication for the report.
Finally, we know it is much easier to prevent something than stop it after the fact. Prevention is my mission. With communication and awareness Sextortion can be prevented. I encourage all families to talk and develop a scam plan. The scam talk may be as important as the birds and bees talk in today’s technology driven culture. This would consist of going over cyber fraud targeting each family member, what to look for, how to look for it, and then going through the potential alternatives. What if this happens? I also encourage families to create a family code word to combat AI and other family related imposter scams, but that is for another article. ❦

About the Author

Brad Thorne is a Financial Crimes Detective with the Boise Police Department. He started his career in law enforcement about 25 years ago with the Boise Police Department. He worked in several positions, from Patrol, Crime Scene Investigator, and Criminal Investigation. The last 15 years have been spent on financial crimes. Thorne is an instructor for new detectives as well as the financial crimes unit with the Boise PD Police Officer Standards and Training Academy.

Thorne is a Task Force Officer with the United States Secret Service Mountain West Cyber Fraud Task Force (MWCFTF) headquartered in Denver Colorado where he is tasked with investigating cyber related fraud. Thorne has achieved comprehensive experience in investigations involving Transnational Organized Crime (TOC) and other cyber related fraud. Thorne has collaborated with Federal, State and Law Enforcement partners all over the world.

Thorne holds a master’s certificate with the Idaho Police Officer Standards and Training. Through his investigations into cyber related fraud, Thorne has become part of Global Anti-Scam Alliance, The CA Crypto-Coalition, and was offered a fellowship with TRM labs. He currently holds an advanced certificate in Cryptocurrency Investigations. Thorne continues to pursue advocacy for victims through his investigations. He received his formal education from Boise State University and received a bachelor’s degree in Multidisciplinary Studies, and a certification in Leadership Studies.

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