‘Sextortion’ is a new challenge of our times
THIS past Wednesday, two brothers from Nigeria pleaded guilty to Sexual Extortion, popularly known as “sextortion”, in a case that has gained international attention.
The case follows the sextortion and resultant suicide of a 17-year-old boy, Jordan Demay, who shot himself at his home after being tricked into sending explicit photos of himself to someone posing as a girl online. He was subsequently blackmailed into paying $500 to stop the dispersal of his personal photos by his “sextortionists”.
Nearly two years later, Samuel Ogoshi and Samson Ogoshi, 20 and 22 years respectively, are facing federal charges in the death of Jordan Demay, and have officially pleaded guilty to sexually extorting children, teenage boys, and young men in Michigan and across the USA.
Closer to home, we have had a trail of sextortion cases in recent years. The case of 19-year-old Giyani native Matima Ndlovu, who extorted R28 000 from his victim nearly a year ago, highlighted a sextortion syndicate across Giyani in Limpopo, where several young people were being groomed to become sextortion predators.
Just over two years ago, Rivalani Manganyi was arrested in Diepkloof, Soweto, after repeatedly extorting a Cape Town resident for over R15 000 in one month alone. Another case of sextortion by a University of Limpopo student, Mbuyelo Result Nkuna, was shocking as he had been extorting money from his victim consistently for approximately two years.
By definition, “sextortion” or “sexploitation”, occurs when an online
predator tricks someone into giving them private sexual materials such as images or videos, and then demands money, more images, or other demands. The predator then threatens to share the images with friends, families, religious communities and even workplaces, should the victim not comply.
According to the National Centre for Missing & Exploited Children, approximately 80% of predators demand money from their victims. Young children, mostly girls, are led into sex slavery by sex trafficking rings that are posing as sextortion syndicates. This year, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) reported that although any child can be a victim of sextortion, males between the ages of 14 and 17 are being especially targeted.
It is also important to distinguish between sexual extortion (or sextortion) which entails non-physical coercion, and sexual exploitation (or sexploitation) which entails physical coercion into sexual acts and abusive sexual behaviours. Sextortion is a serious crime punishable by fifteen years imprisonment.
Child pornography
A predator’s coercion of a child in sextortion is considered the production of child pornography, which aggravates their criminal charges.
This critical issue was highlighted on Wednesday evening during Safm’s Night Talk, where Cybersecurity Advisor Andy Mashaile stated that sexual exploitation cases have been on an upward spike, particularly since the Covid-19 global pandemic.
In the past four years particularly, children under fifteen years of age have been increasingly targeted, more so as these are the age groups that are newly inducted into digital spaces and the internet. Online predators are more-than-often adults, who, in a sexually motivated way, approach children and teenagers online to exploit their innocence and inexperience.
Being in the internet age allows anybody, regardless of time and location, to communicate instantaneously. In technological studies, it is referred to as “the compression of time and space”. Fake accounts are rife in digital spaces, meaning numerous people are identifying themselves using false information. Predators will often use various online channels, including social media, online gaming platforms, dating applications and video chat applications to target their victims.
Our contemporary world demands that we learn how to make use of technology critically and creatively. This is especially challenging for younger generations, who are inclined to use digital resources in their everyday lives but must remain protected from malicious content and online predators.
The aftermath of sextortion is particularly debilitating to the victims. Not only is there a social stigmatisation of those who have had their private content dispersed, but there are psychological ramifications as well. Emotional distress, embarrassment, heightened anxiety, isolation, withdrawal and feelings of perpetual fear are common traits experienced by victims of sextortion.
Some victims may turn to self-harm, suicide, or substance abuse. This not only deeply affects the personal lives of victims, but also their social, spiritual, and professional lives. This is a terrifying and dehumanising violation, especially for young children and teens who are not yet independent, and often unaware that there is help available.
Grappling with sextortion in our society is a critical undertaking. Although some people are aware of this grievous crime, many more are not. In fact, several cases go unreported due to the secretive and criminal nature of these activities. The lead investigator at Royal Investigations, John Alexander, says that sextortion is oftentimes “not registered with the police due to littleto-no confidence in the police - and when they are, it would usually be closed due to suspect undetected.”
Education is key to grappling with sextortion. It is a contemporary issue and must be candidly - and repeatedly - addressed in sexual education curriculums. Sextortion should also be grappled with in higher education, to meaningfully mitigate this in our societies. It is not enough to identify where offenders are located, we need to implement measures that will prohibit the exploitation of people in digital spaces. We need to find ways to effectively remove deviants and malicious individuals from systems to which they do not belong. We need to empower, equip, and engage with children on the dangers that lie in mediated ages. Many children are using tablets and various gadgets from as early as the age of three. Pop-up advertisements are rife across all internet platforms, and they often promote child pornography, sexual violence, and other abuses. Parents and guardians need to be increasingly vigilant about the digital content that their children engage with and implement the functions that are there to protect children from unauthorised content. Technology and cyber-security companies also need to be increasingly involved in the development of functions that protect children and adults from cyber threats and malicious users.
The reality is that not many faceless crimes are successfully investigated, identified, and apprehended. However, those must be looked at as a benchmark on how society can address this pervasive issue. Technology is vast and tightly interlinked with our modern society, and as such, we must ensure that our society is growing increasingly vigilant of online predators. Navigating online spaces can be challenging, even for adults.
It is vital to highlight these threats, particularly because crimes such as sextortion, revenge porn and catfishing (assuming false online identities), are precursors to human trafficking and sex trafficking. Although millions of people, of all ages, are victims of sex trafficking globally, only 50-100 000 cases are solved each year. A report by The University of Johannesburg shows that trafficking occurs at a slightly higher rate for girls than boys, with 55.5% of all trafficked people in South Africa being female.
Addressing sextortion is also financially taxing. According to Simon CampbellYoung, from Digiguard, a company that specialises in digital clean-ups and take-downs, said it could cost between R500 to R1 000 to remove fake or illicitly compromising content.
“We can remove it from the platforms but not the general internet. We also have a solution, called Digisure, which assists the client legally to get a cease-and-desist order and to prosecute a perpetrator via the police/courts. Our website is www. Digimune.com,” said Young-campbell.
There are a plethora of financial, digital, and legal advisors that are available to redress cases of sextortion, and they continue to grow in numbers.
Technology is unavoidable, and as such, digital predators are unavoidable. We as a society need to ensure that laws are erected to address and minimise cyber crimes such as sextortion. We have a responsibility, not only to the current generation but also to future generations, to ensure that cybercriminals are identified and eradicated from digital spaces.
We have a responsibility to educate our society on these dangers. We need to be wellinformed to mitigate the dangers presented in digital spaces. Reporting these cases, publicising malicious profiles, and keeping these crimes at the forefront of public discourse are pertinent to addressing them effectively. Sextortion is a borderless crime and can happen to absolutely anybody.
Tswelopele Makoe is a Gender & Social Justice Activist. She is also a columnist published weekly in the Eswatini Sunday. She is also an Andrew W. Mellon scholar, pursuing an MA in Ethics at UWC, and affiliated with the Desmond Tutu Centre for Religion and Social Justice. The views expressed are her own.