Washington — More than 3,000 teenagers and young boys have been blackmailed online in what federal law enforcement officials called a “staggering” sextortion scam that has been tied to more than a dozen suicides by minors who were lured into sending explicit images.
In a briefing with reporters Monday, officials at the FBI and the Justice Department said a large portion of the sextortion crimes are motivated by “financial gain,” not sex. In the past year, authorities have received more than 7,000 reports related to the scheme, originating primarily in Nigeria and the Ivory Coast.
The scam typically involves someone posing as a female using a fake account and enticing the victim into sending explicit material, which the scammer then threatens to release unless the victim sends money or gift card codes.
Collectively, payments have reached well into the millions of dollars, though each individual victim is typically extorted for thousands. “When you start to add together the thousands of kids that have made payments, it does demonstrate a decent amount,” one official said.
Federal law enforcement agencies have launched a “sextortion awareness campaign” in schools to warn children of the fraud ahead of winter break, when many minors spend more time online.
“We’ve seen predators in this scheme generally target male children between the ages of 14 and 17, however I would caution everyone that the FBI has interviewed children as young as 10,” a senior FBI official said Monday….
