Sexploitation or sextortion scams are a dangerous form of blackmail. They occur when someone gains access to images of an individual that are of a sexual nature. Once the perpetrator has the images, they threaten to expose or share them unless the victim complies with their demands.
Sadly, most victims of sextortion are young people and children, giving this type of scam a very dark side indeed. Learning about sextortion and how to talk to your teens about it is a critical aspect of online safety.
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How Sextortion Scams Work
In most cases of sextortion, the criminal (and sextortion is a crime) gains access to images of the victim through threats, manipulation, or fear. If a young person has been in a sexual relationship, they may have trusted the other person to take photos of them. After the relationship — which may have been a scam used to obtain these images — the party with the images threatens to reveal them unless the victim pays them or does favors for them. In some cases, these favors may involve creating further sexual imagery to try and convince the victim that they have no control.
Other cases involve online cons. When people meet online, one party may try and convince the other that they already have explicit imagery or videos of them. For young people, this can be very frightening. The young person may be so fearful of these images getting leaked that they will do anything to prevent that from happening — including allowing the criminal to take more images. This increases the level of fear and the power the criminal has.
The impact of sextortion or sexploitation scams is severe. Being the victim of sextortion can damage a teen’s self-worth, make it hard for them to trust again, and lead to serious psychological problems. When the perpetrator actually has explicit images or videos, the teen will live in constant fear of those being exposed or shared. One young person died by suicide in 2023 after being threatened via sexual extortion. The perpetrator had posed as a teen girl to get the victim to send the picture and had then started demanding money.
How to Explain Sextortion Scams to Teens
Extreme cases like this highlight just how damaging sextortion scams can be. That’s why it’s vital that parents and carers have open and honest conversations about online safety and responsible internet usage. While many teens aren’t going to want to discuss sexual topics with their guardians, it’s up to parents to make sure they’re providing a safe space for these discussions to take place. Parents can start by:
- Never judging and listening to problems and concerns with an open mind.
- Talking openly about news reports relating to sextortion and similar scams, where appropriate.
- Starting conversations about how you know who you’re talking to online.
- Looking out for signs of your teen being groomed, such as unusually secretive behavior, isolation, or seeming upset or frightened for no discernible reason.
- Talking about how it might feel to discover that compromising images had been shared — understanding the impact of this before it happens can help teens make the decision not to share explicit imagery in the first place.
It’s estimated that between 2023 and 2024, cyber tip-offs relating to sextortion crimes rose to 456,000 from a previous high of 186,800.
Resources for Teen Online Safety
With scams like this on the rise, it’s essential that you provide your teens with online safety resources that they can utilize:
- Stop Abuse For Everyone (SAFE) has a hotline and plenty of online advice about sextortion scams.
- The U.S. Department of Justice offers internet safety advice for parents and children.
- Net Cetera is a free guide on how to talk to children and young people about online safety.
Bookmark the resources that make sense for you and your family, and remember to keep having open and honest conversations about what everyone is using the internet for.
Stay Informed About Safety Online
These types of scams are alarming for parents and can lead to trauma for teens — but by staying informed, you’re already helping to protect your loved ones. Sign up for Scam Detector’s Scam Alerts to get regular updates on scams that could impact you and the young people in your life.
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