Social media ‘sextortion’ scam targets teen boys, FBI says
A growing number of adolescent boys are falling victim to an online scheme called financial sextortion, wherein someone tricks them into sending inappropriate pictures and messages before extorting them for money or favors, FBI officials say.
The federal agency and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security received more than 7,000 allegations of financial sextortion in 2022, up significantly since 2021, said David Martinez, the assistant special agent in charge who oversees FBI Houston’s criminal branch.
“The victims of this, unfortunately, are some of the most vulnerable population, young children,” Martinez said. “And, with this crime increasing, we’re seeing an increase in the number of suicides connected to this.”
Federal authorities for months have been raising awareness of the crime, in hopes that parents and children might be better guarded against it. The Houston region is not immune to rising instances of financial sextortion, Martinez said.
But quantifying what jurisdictions are most prone to financial sextortion is harder than it might seem, Jay Albanese, a professor of government and public affairs at Virginia Commonwealth University, said. Albanese studies organized and transnational crime, and spent time recently looking into the types of cybercrimes.
“With cybercrimes, the whole idea of jurisdiction is thrown out the window,” he said. “It matters less where you are physically. If you can commit an offense over the internet, on a computer or phone, where is the jurisdiction?”
Investigators have found that many perpetrators of financial
operate overseas, from jurisdictions not easily reached by U.S. law enforcement, Martinez explained.
Criminals have developed a system where they reach out to teenagers through social media, online gaming, or elsewhere, and foster a relationship with them, Martinez said. Many of those operating the schemes will pretend to be a girl close to the victim’s own age. Sometimes perpetrators might go so far as to clone social media profiles of someone the victim knows in real life. Sometimes they might even hack a legitimate account.
The goal is to convince them to send explicit photos or images, at which point the scammer threatens to release the material if the victim’s family doesn’t give them money or other benefits.
Often, those behind such schemes will continue with threats and release the material even if they receive the requested payment, Martinez said.
Albanese published a study in November 2022 analyzing the types of cybercrimes federal authorities prosecuted in 2019. Researchers analyzed cybercrime-related statements released by all U.S. Attorney’s Offices from 2019 — the last year before the pandemsextortion ic — and found 305 unique cases involving various cybercrimes. About 45 percent of those crimes were tied to fraud or counterfeiting, while 32 percent were connected to sexual exploitation — into which financial sextortion would fall. Additionally, 13 percent were connected to extortion, racketeering and violence.
Alabanese said he was surprised fraud did not make up 80 to 90 percent of cybercrimes and that extortion-related crimes comprise a much bigger percentage than expected.
“It appears that not only what the FBI said true, but these crimes are a high percentage of all the cybercrimes prosecuted,” Albanese said.