‘Sextortion’ Cases In U.S. See ‘Horrific Increase,’ FBI Says

ACROSS AMERICA — On Monday, the FBI and other federal agencies warned of a “horrific increase” in “financial sextortion” crimes victimizing children and minors. In these schemes, victims are often convinced through flattery and other manipulations into sending explicit images online and then extorted for money.

The FBI, along with the Department of Justice and National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, said 7,000 reports have been taken over the past year involving at least 3,000 victims. A dozen suicides are connected to sexploitation, according to the alert.

The number of victims is likely much higher, FBI Director Christopher Wray said in the alert. The targets of these schemes, most of which originate outside the United States in West African nations such as Nigeria and Ivory Coast, are largely minor boys, Wray said.

San Jose, California, police said they recently arrested a southern California man in connection with a sextortion scheme they believe led to a teen’s suicide. The scheme originated in West Africa last February, police said.

Investigators in other areas of the country also report an uptick in cases. For example, authorities in Nashua, New Hampshire, said this spring they had received a rash of sextortion reports, mainly with male victims.

The predators use common social media, gaming sites or video chat applications teens are comfortable using. To entice victims, the predator often creates a fake female account to target victims, who typically are 14- to 17-year-old males. However, the FBI said it has interviewed victims as young as 10.

The predators convince the victim to produce an explicit video or photo. Once predators acquire the images, they threaten to release the compromising material unless the victim sends money or gift cards, often through a variety of peer-to-peer payment applications.

In many cases, the images are released regardless of whether the blackmail has been paid. The shame, fear and confusion victims feel when caught in the cycle often stops them from asking help or reporting the abuse, according to the alert.

“This is a growing crisis, and we've seen sextortion completely devastate children and families,” Michelle DeLaune, CEO of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, said in the alert, noting that it has seen a rise in such cases worldwide.

“The best defense against this crime is to talk to your children about what to do if they're targeted online,” DeLaune said. “We want everyone to know help is out there, and they're not alone.”

The agencies said they were issuing the alert ahead of the holiday season when teens will be home from school on winter break and may spend more time on their devices.

“The FBI is here for victims, but we also need parents and caregivers to work with us to prevent this crime before it happens and help children come forward if it does,” Wray said. “Victims may feel like there is no way out — it is up to all of us to reassure them that they are not in trouble, there is hope, and they are not alone.”

If young people are being exploited, they are victims of a crime and should report it, the alert said. To report it, contact your local FBI field office, call 1-800-CALL-FBI, or report it online at tips.fbi.gov.

A guide for parents to talk to kids about sextortion is available from the FBI. Tips from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children offered the following tips:

• Remember, the predator is to blame, not your child or you.
• Cooperating or paying the blackmail rarely stops the sextortion; contact law enforcement before paying any money or complying with the demands.
• Report the predator’s account via the social media or other online platform’s safety feature.
• Block the predator, but don’t delete the profile or messages, which can be valuable to investigators in identifying and stopping them.
• The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children can assist in scrubbing explicit messages from the internet. Resources include missingkids.org/IsYourExplicitContentOutThere to learn how to notify companies yourself or request help from the agency via cybertipline.org.
• Ask for help. This can be a very complex problem and may require help from adults or law enforcement. Minors who don’t feel they have sympathetic adults in their corner can email gethelp@ncmec.org or call the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 1-800-THE-LOST.

Not all such schemes are the work of foreign actors, however. Among recent cases:

A former substitute teacher in Minnesota’s Twin Cities was sentenced to 40 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to charges related to a yearslong scheme in which he used a fake online account to obtain explicit images from 42 people, 23 of whom were minors.

Although minor males are often targeted, a Saint Paul, Minnesota, man targeted more than 1,100 minor girls in a sextortion scheme that lasted five years, according to the Justice Department. The defendant, who was sentenced to 43 years in prison after pleading guilty to related charges, lured his victims with flattery and compliments “which quickly turned into threats and extortion,” U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger said in a September statement.

Authorities in California said in November a Virginia cop concealed his identity to “catfish” a teenage girl over social media, then traveled across the country and staked out her Riverside home before killing her mother and grandparents and fleeing with the girl as the home burned. Edwards was killed in a gunfight with San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputies as he made a run for the California state line.