Sexting & Sextortion Scams

Penalties for this need to be severe, and social media companies need to be doing more to prevent it and doing more when it's reported
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N., a 21-year-old with autism and bipolar disorder, was struggling to adjust after he moved with his parents from Colorado to Idaho in 2020. Feeling lonely, N. turned to Facebook, which he had joined to keep up with his old friends. He was surprised when he started receiving messages from what appeared to be a young woman through the app, according to his mother in interviews. The person was kind to him. He embraced the new online friendship that was developing.

After several days of chatting, the person sent N. an enticing nude photo and asked for him to send one of himself in return. N. had just finished work and was sitting in his car in the parking lot when he responded by sending a photo of his genitalia. The picture also included his face and his work uniform that identified the name of his employer.

The betrayal from his supposed new friend was swift and vicious. The person demanded $500 or else the photo would be sent to his entire contact list on Facebook, including family, friends and work colleagues. N. would be humiliated, perhaps lose his job and maybe even be prosecuted. He tried to negotiate. He had only $200 to offer, but he struggled setting up the payment app that the scammer required.

When N. took too long to send the money, the scammer blasted the photo to 15 of his family members, his mother said. They included N. in the message so he would know what happened.

In his car, N. called his mother. “He was hysterical,” she recalled. “You could tell in his voice that something horrible had happened. It was something he felt he couldn’t live through. He was frantic.”

N. told her she wouldn’t see him again. “I’m just calling to tell you goodbye,” he told her. Rae didn’t know anything about the Facebook photo, but she knew her son was in trouble.

While he was still on the line, N. found a knife in his car and began cutting into his wrists. She begged him to wait for her, to hold on, that everything would be okay.

She was 10 minutes away and drove toward the store as fast as possible. Along the way, she called her husband, who was still working inside the store. He ran toward his son’s car and found him covered in blood. His father grabbed the knife and comforted his son. Rae arrived a few minutes later.

N. survived, but the ramifications of his victimization remain.

The family went to the police, but were told that nothing could be done. For victims like N., a legal adult, there was little recourse, even with his disability..........

https://www.washingtonpost.com/parenting/2023/10/02/teen-boys-sextortion/