Sextortion. What is sextortion? The FBI classifies sextoriton as:
Sextortion is a serious crime that occurs when someone threatens to distribute your private and sensitive material if you don’t provide them images of a sexual nature, sexual favors, or money.
The perpetrator may also threaten to harm your friends or relatives by using information they have obtained from your electronic devices unless you comply with their demands."
I decided to post a myTake on this since sextortion is a growing internet crime in which young girls and boys are often targeted. There are also a few people on here who openly admit to sharing half naked or full nude pictures of themselves with someone they thought they could trust. Just yesterday a user posted a question asking for help because a woman he was chatting with on kik promised to share naked pictures of herself if he sent some of himself. Of course once she received the photo's she told him to give her a $100 dollars or she'll post them on "The Ellen fb page". I could only believe that meant the The Ellen DeGeneres Show facebook page. As ridiculous as this sounds similar situations happen all the time.
Sometimes you see situations like this in movies or TV shows and you say "Who would listen to a blackmailer? Call the police! What's worse? One picture of yourself floating around or hundreds?!" But as a victim this doesn't come to your mind immediately. What you are experiencing is panic and embarrasment and trying to figure a way to have this all go away. Blackmailers are never satisfied. They will always come back, and you honestly can't believe anything they say.
A man named Lucas Michael Chansler victimized nearly 350 teenage girls over a several-year period ending in January 2010. Chansler used multiple online personas and dozens of fake screen names—such as “HELLOthere” and “goodlookingguy313”—to dupe girls from 26 U.S. states, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Pretending to be 15-year-old boys—all handsome and all involved in skateboarding—he trolled popular online hangouts to strike up relationships with teenage girls. When asked why he targeted girls so young he said it was because they are easier to manipulate.
Here is a map of Chansler's sextortion victims who have been identified as of July 7th, 2015. This is just from one man and out of 350 only 109 have been identified and located!
How to avoid becoming a victim:
- Whatever you are told online may not be true, which means the person you think you are talking to may not be the person you really are talking to.
- Don’t send pictures to strangers. Don’t post any pictures of yourself online that you wouldn’t show to your grandmother. “If you only remember that,” Meyer said, “you are probably going to be safe.”
- If you are being targeted by an online predator, tell someone. If you feel you can’t talk to a parent, tell a trusted teacher or counselor. You can also call the FBI, the local police, or the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children’s CyberTipline.
- You might be afraid or embarrassed to talk with your parents, but most likely they will understand. “One of the common denominators in the Chansler case,” Meyer noted, “was that parents wished their daughters had told them sooner. They were very understanding and sympathetic. They realized their child was being victimized.”
Remember the internet is a whole new world, and what ever you post and upload will stay there forever. So stay safe and think twice before sending someone a private image of yourself.
TL;DR
Source: FBI - Sextortion
Note: Anyone with the names HELLOthere and goodlookingguy313 on GAG are not to be associated with Chansler.
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