Not long ago, making prank calls was the worst trouble a group of teens could get into with a telephone.
But today, predators use phones to stalk and blackmail teens on social media and dating apps. Sextortion — the act of threatening to share nude or explicit images — is more common than you may think, and cases affecting young children, teens and adults have increased exponentially in the past two years. In fact, Homeland Security Investigations received over 3,000 sextortion tips in fiscal year 2022.
One current sextortion trend targets boys between 14 and 17 years old. Adult predators pretending to be young girls feign romantic interest in the boys on gaming platforms, apps and social media sites.
It starts simply enough: A teen responds to an online request to expose parts of their body on a webcam or send a nude photo to a new online “friend.” The next thing the teen knows, their new friend threatens to expose them by publicizing the photos — unless they pose for more explicit photos or send money.
In some schemes, adult predators deceive and manipulate young males into engaging in explicit activity over video, which the predator secretly records. The predator then reveals that they’ve made the recording and threatens to post clips online if the victim doesn’t pay up.
