I have been warning you about sextortion scams for eight years. The FBI reported that reported incidents of teen sextortion had increased 20% last year and the number of actual cases is probably higher due to the crime often not being reported. According to the FBI, adult predators, often posing as young girls, contact teenage boys on a variety of online platforms such as games or social media and then convincing the teenage boys to engage in explicit sexual activity while unbeknownst to the teenaged boy, the predator is recording it. The scammer then reveals to the teenager that the scammer has the recording and threatens to post it online unless a substantial payment is made. Many of these scams are organized and based outside the United States, primarily in West African countries such as Nigeria and the Ivory Coast.
Now in a new twist on this crime, the FBI is warning people about companies, often directly or indirectly involved with the sextortion criminals offering to provide services to stop the sextortion for a substantial upfront fee of thousands of dollars. Their services are worthless at best and they know it.
Last week the state of Mississippi signed into law two bills that created specific penalties for sextortion and compelling digital service providers to implement safeguards to protect minors online. While these laws are positive steps, it is unlikely that they will do much to reduce or prevent sextortion. The best weapon against sextortion is knowledge and awareness.
TIPS
The FBI advises parents to tell their children to be very careful as to what they share online. Social media accounts which are open to everyone provide predators and scammers with a lot of information that the scammers can use to lure people into scams. Discuss the appropriate privacy settings with your children for all of their accounts.
The FBI also tells parents to remind their children that they can never be sure as to who they are communicating with online and they should be particularly skeptical if they meet someone on a game or app who then asks to communicate with them on a different platform.
Finally, in regard to these companies that are now offering worthless assistance they claim will stop the sextortion, you should recognize that these companies which ask for upfront payments of thousands of dollars before they do anything cannot provide any help beyond what law enforcement would do for free and that you should be skeptical when such a service discourages you from reporting the crime to law enforcement.
If you are not a subscriber to Scamicide.com and would like to receive free daily emails with the Scam of the day, all you need to do is to go to the bottom of the initial page of http://www.scamicide.com and type in your email address on the tab that states “Sign up for this blog.”