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Something else to warn your kids about
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Lynn and Paul were sitting in their Seattle home one night earlier this year when their son, Michael, a 17-year-old high school football player, burst into the room and made a beeline for his mom’s purse on the dining room table. Paul asked what he was up to. Their son paused, took a breath and leaned against the wall. “I’m being blackmailed,” he said.
He had been chatting with a person through Instagram and Snapchat who purported to be a 16-year-old girl. “She” saw his profile and told him he was cute. Michael had never met the person, but the account was filled with photos and details about the girl’s life that made it appear real. The two flirted back and forth.
The person behind the account asked to see a photo of him naked, and specifically requested he include his face. Alone in his room that night, Michael dashed off a picture he took with his phone. Suddenly, the person, who had seemed so sweet and fun while chatting for weeks, demanded Michael send hundreds of dollars through Zelle. If Michael refused, the person threatened, they would send the nude photo to his family and friends.
He tried to set up a Zelle account on his phone, but it required his social security number. That’s why he was digging in his mom’s purse: He was hoping she might have his card there.
Michael had fallen prey to what online safety and law enforcement experts call financial sextortion, in which predators befriend victims online under false pretenses, entice them to send incriminating photos and then demand payment under threat that they’ll expose the photos to family and friends.
The number of sextortion cases targeting young people “has exploded in the past couple of years,” with teen boys being specific targets, said Lauren Coffren, executive director of the Exploited Children Division at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).
“They’re using shame, embarrassment and fear, and they’re tapping into that,” Coffren said. “They’re exploiting children’s worst nightmares.”
NCMEC, which serves as a clearinghouse for records of abuse, received more than 10,000 tips of financial sextortion of minors, primarily boys, in 2022 from the public as well as from electronic service providers, such as Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat, which are required by law to report cases.
By the end of July 2023, NCMEC had already received more than 12,500 reports, which is routed to law enforcement, with more continuing to pour in. Given the multiple reporting sources, it’s possible that some of those reports were duplicates, Coffren said, but the increasing number of cases is troubling. Mike Prado, deputy assistant director at the Homeland Security Investigations Cyber Crimes Center, emphasized the importance of reporting sextortion cases, which is the only way for authorities to initiate an investigation and prosecute the cases, noting not all cases are reported.
The repercussions of the abuse are devastating: At least a dozen boys died by suicide in 2022, after they were blackmailed, according to the FBI. Meanwhile, social media companies are playing catch up to stem the tidal wave of sextortion scams targeting children……..
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Lynn and Paul were sitting in their Seattle home one night earlier this year when their son, Michael, a 17-year-old high school football player, burst into the room and made a beeline for his mom’s purse on the dining room table. Paul asked what he was up to. Their son paused, took a breath and leaned against the wall. “I’m being blackmailed,” he said.
He had been chatting with a person through Instagram and Snapchat who purported to be a 16-year-old girl. “She” saw his profile and told him he was cute. Michael had never met the person, but the account was filled with photos and details about the girl’s life that made it appear real. The two flirted back and forth.
The person behind the account asked to see a photo of him naked, and specifically requested he include his face. Alone in his room that night, Michael dashed off a picture he took with his phone. Suddenly, the person, who had seemed so sweet and fun while chatting for weeks, demanded Michael send hundreds of dollars through Zelle. If Michael refused, the person threatened, they would send the nude photo to his family and friends.
He tried to set up a Zelle account on his phone, but it required his social security number. That’s why he was digging in his mom’s purse: He was hoping she might have his card there.
Michael had fallen prey to what online safety and law enforcement experts call financial sextortion, in which predators befriend victims online under false pretenses, entice them to send incriminating photos and then demand payment under threat that they’ll expose the photos to family and friends.
The number of sextortion cases targeting young people “has exploded in the past couple of years,” with teen boys being specific targets, said Lauren Coffren, executive director of the Exploited Children Division at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).
“They’re using shame, embarrassment and fear, and they’re tapping into that,” Coffren said. “They’re exploiting children’s worst nightmares.”
NCMEC, which serves as a clearinghouse for records of abuse, received more than 10,000 tips of financial sextortion of minors, primarily boys, in 2022 from the public as well as from electronic service providers, such as Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat, which are required by law to report cases.
By the end of July 2023, NCMEC had already received more than 12,500 reports, which is routed to law enforcement, with more continuing to pour in. Given the multiple reporting sources, it’s possible that some of those reports were duplicates, Coffren said, but the increasing number of cases is troubling. Mike Prado, deputy assistant director at the Homeland Security Investigations Cyber Crimes Center, emphasized the importance of reporting sextortion cases, which is the only way for authorities to initiate an investigation and prosecute the cases, noting not all cases are reported.
The repercussions of the abuse are devastating: At least a dozen boys died by suicide in 2022, after they were blackmailed, according to the FBI. Meanwhile, social media companies are playing catch up to stem the tidal wave of sextortion scams targeting children……..
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