Sexual predators, some posing as famous stars such as Justin Bieber, are using a variety of ploys to lure children into sending nude photos, then threatening them if they don’t continue, making online sextortion one of the biggest dangers to children today.
FoxNews.com is reporting on statistics from the National Strategy for Child Exploitation Prevention and Interdiction which found that 60 percent of persons involved with investigating cyber crime encountered this type of online activity.
The report concluded that “sextortion cases tend to have more minor victims per offender than all other child exploitation offenses.”
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children describes sextortion as a relatively new form of sexual exploitation that occurs primarily online. Non-physical forms of coercion are used, such as blackmail, to acquire sexual content from the child, obtain money from the child, or engage in sexual relations with the child.
“Since the CyberTipline began tracking sextortion in October 2013, these reports have been on the rise,” the Center reports. “In just the first two full years, between 2014 and 2015, there was a 90% increase in the total number of reports; a pattern that has continued, with sextortion reports up 150 percent within the first several months of 2016 compared to the number of reports in that same time-frame in 2014.”
Speaking with Fox’s Diana Falzone, anti-revenge porn activist Dr. Charlotte Laws described two main sextortion ploys:
“The first is trust-related. The perpetrator tricks a victim into trusting him (or her) and into providing compromising photos or video,” Laws said. “The second is the malware-related ploy, which secretly shifts on a victim’s webcam.The perpetrator is able to capture and save nude images. He can later extort money from the victim or scam her into providing additional compromising material.”
In one case investigated by Falzone, 24 year-old Bryan Asrary, was charged with posing as Justin Bieber to lure minors into sending nude photos, and then threatening them if they didn’t continue to do so.
Sextortion “is about exerting power, and it is a form of blackmail,” Laws explained. “It is sexual abuse and has led to suicides. Victims tend to withdraw from family members and experience severe emotional trauma.”
The reason it occurs so frequently is because too many minors are online “with zero barriers between themselves and whatever amoral sociopath might be targeting them,” added clinical psychologist Dr. Chloe Carmichael. “Many minors take and send photos of themselves in compromising positions out of a desire for attention, or a misguided belief that this makes them mature.”
Children are just too easy to manipulate, says Bruce Anderson, Director of Cyber Investigations & Intelligence at Cyber Investigation Services LLC. “Once they think they’ve done something bad like send a naked photo, they become an ongoing source to fuel child pornography. Parents know what your kids are doing on their devices. Sextortionists can absolutely destroy children.”
Dr. Laws gave FoxNews a few tips for protecting yourself and your children from sextortion:
1. Cover your webcam with a sticker or tape. Turn off your computer when not in use, and unplug your stand-alone webcam.
2. Never send compromising photos or video to anyone, regardless of who they are.
3. Be careful about all online interaction. Never say or do anything that you would not want known to the world. Be aware that there are hundreds of predators online, and many are located overseas (and thus out of reach by law enforcement).
4. Use strong passwords and do not open unexpected attachments. Also, be sure your computer anti-virus is up-to-date.
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