�SEXTORTION�Recognize, Prevent, Protect

SA Peter Mauro

Federal Bureau of Investigation

Cleveland Division, Akron Resident Agency

�“We, at the FBI, have no greater mission than to protect our nation’s children from harm.” ��– FBI Director Christopher Wray�

SEXTORTION?

Sextortion is a criminal act and a form of sexual exploitation. It involves using a threat to expose a sexual image in order to make a person do something or for other reasons, such as revenge or humiliation.

“Sextortion is a global threat, so children are being victimized 24 hours a day.”

(Brian Herrick, Assistant Section Chief, FBI)

Two Types of Sextortion

Traditional

• Victim sends sexually explicit material to the offender
• Offender threatens to release compromising material unless the victim produces more, OR
• Offender threatens to harm the victim or his/her family if the victim does not comply

Financially Motivated

• Victim sends sexually explicit material to the offender
• Offender threatens to release compromising material unless the victim sends money and/or gift cards
• Offenders are typically located overseas

Sextortion Cycle

How Does Sextortion Happen?

Social Engineering

• Developing a bond with flattery and praise
• Leading the victim to believe the offender can be trusted
• Representing him/herself as a business (modeling agency), friend, or the victim’s boyfriend or girlfriend
• Grooming to engage in increasingly inappropriate behavior (i.e., flashing, undressing)

Deception:

• Using multiple online false identities to first obtain images/videos from victim and later to blackmail the victim
• Impersonating a child of similar age/characteristics and/or a person of the opposite sex

Hacking:

• Using of malware to assume control of a victim’s computer, gain access to the victim’s files, and/or control of the computer’s web camera and microphone

How Does the Extortion Occur?

• Threatening to release victim’s sexually explicit images/videos unless the victim produces more
• Threatening to release the victim’s sexually explicit images/videos unless the victim sends money and/or gift cards
• Sometimes convincing the victims they have sexually explicit material, even if the victims have never produced such material
• Sending nude images to the victims, along with screen captures of their family and friends on social media

Other Threats

United States v. Aaron Pauly:

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Examples of Threats

“Yes. Now quit asking. U either do this or I’m blowing this s*** up

2. I want a pic of u suking on one of ur boobs.

3. I want a close up of ur p*** from behind taken as if I was looking at u getting ready to f*** u from behind.

4. I want a close up of ur p*** from the front with ur lips spread so I can see ur virginity.

5

I want a pic of u fingering urself I want to see ur p*** spread ur finger inside u and I want ur face in this pic.”

. . . . . . . . . .

“Ya right. Ur too easy. And I got all ur information friends family ur f***ing ssn for goodness sake address phone #s b*** I own u and I’ll be watching Y”

  . . . . . . . . . .

“Alright here’s the deal u want to be a little smartass slut Guess what ur going to once again be my slut u cunt. U broke our deal. And owe me big time And now ur going to pay Here’s what I want. I want a video of u masterbateing. I want ur face in it. I want to hear u moan and I want to see u have an orgasm. u have till 3a tonight or u know the deal.”

United States v. Nicholas Kurtz

Examples of Threats

KURTZ: Either you come back to me.

KURTZ: Or everything is broken

KURTZ: You choose

Minor Female A: Meaning you will upload the pics

KURTZ: I didn’t say that

KURTZ: Haha

KURTZ: Get rid of the other guys you are talking to

KURTZ: You belong to me

Minor Female A: You cant make me…

KURTZ: I don’t have to

KURTZ: We both know you will obey

KURTZ: Cause you know what happens when you don’t

. . . . . . .

KURTZ: Ok.. I will be there in 2 weeks

KURTZ: I have to get guns first

KURTZ: But first

KURTZ: Let’s destroy your reputation even more

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KURTZ: I won’t be for long

KURTZ: 2 weeks I wil be there

KURTZ: Obey me and I won’t come

KURTZ: Don’t and I will

KURTZ: That is your choice

Minor Female A: ….your bluffing you don’t know where i live

KURTZ: You use to love me

KURTZ: Now you could care less about me

KURTZ: I guess I will start with your mom. Then the choir then your

friends

. . . . . . .

KURTZ: Or lose everything

Minor Female A: No i vant go back go doing that…. Youo.cant.find.me

KURTZ: Haha

Minor Female A: Your.behind.a.screen

KURTZ: I can

KURTZ: Ok so what happens when I post a nude and tag all your friends

KURTZ: What happens when they get ahold of them

KURTZ: What happens when I show up in town with videos of you doing

things

Minor Female A: ….you cant

KURTZ: I can

KURTZ: And I will

Minor Female A: Prove you know where i live

KURTZ: After everyhone is making fun of you and hates you then I will

ruin everything

• Hack accounts of someone the victims know
• Create “look alike accounts” of someone the victim may know
• Create an online alias of a minor

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Typical Offender Account Profiles

The Face of Sextortion…�Number of Victims

300+

200+

30+

10+

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Who Are the Minor Victims?

• Traditional Sextortion: Victims are typically females between ages of 10 to 17
• Financially Motivated: Victims are typically males between ages of 13 to 17
• But ANY child can become a victim
• Crosses all demographics, socio-economic status, suburban, rural, inner-city

How Victims are Targeted

• Sextortion most commonly occurs via social networking sites, messaging applications, and video chats
• Common risk factors and victim characteristics:
• Frequent use of social networks and other online communication platforms
• Tendency to engage in risky online behavior
• Significant amount of time spent online every day
• Comfortable engaging in sexual communications / interactions online
• Naïve interpersonally or technically
• Open to over-sharing, including self-generated sexual material
• Absence of / poor parental control

Nilsson et al, 2019

How Victims are Targeted

• Personal knowledge of victim
• Randomly selected based on group memberships or outward characteristics
• Specifically targeted due to request
• Totally random attack

• Social and Emotional Development
• Prone to risk-taking behaviors
• Cognitive Development
• Don't consider the consequences of all of their words or actions in part due to limited life experiences and the brain still being under construction
• Sexual Development
• Curiosity
• Often given misinformation
• Questioning their sexual orientation/preference

�

The MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Law and Neuroscience, 2017

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Adolescent Development

• “Compliant victims” are those who cooperate and/or participate in their victimization
• Teens are at risk of compliant victimization due to:
• Normal developmental factors; i.e. sexual desires and curiosity
• Vulnerability to flattery
• Attraction to risk-taking�

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Patchin and Hinduja (2018)

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Compliant Victims

Teenage Lack of Understanding Results in:

Sextortion on the Rise

NCMEC Statistics

• Since 2016, the CyberTipline has received 262,573 reports of Online Enticement, the category that includes sextortion
• Between 2019 and 2021, the number of reports involving sextortion has more than doubled
• Motive:
• In an earlier analysis, the dominant motive of offenders was to get more explicit images of the child
• In reports from early 2022, 79% of the offenders were seeking money

Sextortion on the Rise

FBI Statistics

• Over 7,000 sextortion reports were received by the FBI in 2022
• In the first six months of 2022, the FBI received over 10 times the number of reported incidents as compared to the same period in 2021
• Current Predominate Motive: Financially Motivated Sextortion
• Hotspots for Offenders: Nigeria, Ivory Coast, and the Philippines

Survey of 2,097 participants aged 13 to 25, primarily involving Traditional Sextortion:

• Victims were targeted on platforms they frequented
• Younger victims were more likely to experience sextortion by an unknown online offender (60%)
• Teens ages 14-17 were more likely to know the offender offline (approx. 50%-57%)
• 60% of online victims were threatened within two weeks of initial contact
• 1 in 4 victims were 13 or younger when threatened
• Frequency and Duration of Threats:
• 47% of victims experienced threats daily
• 1 in 3 victims reported that the threats lasted 3 months or longer

2017 Thorn Online Survey

• Victims Who Complied with Threats:
• 62% of victims complied with demands in an effort to make the threats stop
• 64% of victims reported that threats continued after complying with demands
• 68% of victims reported threats became more frequent after complying with the demands
• 54% of victims reported the matter to a family member or friend
• Only 17% of victims reported the matter to law enforcement

2017 Thorn Online Survey

Sextortion reports from 2021 to January 2023, primarily involving Financially Motivated Sextortion:

• Age Range of Victims: 13 years old to young adults
• Gender of Victims: 81% Male, 15% Female, 4% Unknown Gender
• Average Monetary Demand by Offenders: $250-$500
• Applications Used by Offenders: Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Discord, Twitter, Telegram, Omegle, Google Hangouts, Google Chat, Wink, Wizz, Snapchat, OnlyFans Website, SMS/iMessages, Phone Calls
• Approximately 1/3 of victims declined to participate in the investigation or legal process

FBI Data – Cleveland Division

• Negative emotions experienced by victims:
• Fear
• Anxiety
• Hopelessness
• Helplessness
• Humiliation
• Self-blame
• Shame
• Psychological distress experienced by victims:
• Psychological, physical, and emotional trauma
• Social isolation and hopelessness
• Substance abuse
• Self-harming behaviors
• Suicidal thoughts / attempts

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Impact on Sextortion Victims

• Suicide is the second leading cause of death for children ages 10 to 14 (www.cdc.gov, 2020 survey)
• Increasing threats/stress experienced by sextortion victims has resulted in an alarming number of deaths by suicide
• “Teen brains are still developing. So when something catastrophic happens, like a personal picture is released to people online, it’s hard for them to look past that moment and understand that in the big scheme of things they’ll be able to get through this.” (Dr. Scott Hadland, Chief of Adolescent Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital)

Suicide

Suicide – Examples of News Articles

James Woods, Age 17, Streetsboro, OH

• November 18 2022, James is contacted on Instagram by a scammer with a fake profile.  
• Less than 24 hours later, James died by suicide after scammers sent an explicit picture of James to his followers on Instagram even after he sent the scammers money.
• While being victimized by the scammer, James attended a college fair and showed no signs of what he was being put through.
• The scammers asked for more money after James sent the little he had.
• James sent the message that he was "stuck in an unavoidable loop for the rest of his life". 

(https://fox8.com/news/streetsboro-teen-who-died-by-suicide-was-sextortion-victim-family-says/)

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Brayden Markus, Age 15, Columbus, OH

• Braden Markus, 15, had what his mother said was an "amazing weekend of football" on Saturday, Oct. 21, 2021. To celebrate, the Ohio teen ordered his favorite food, then "spent the rest of the night doing homework, playing Xbox with his cousins and sleeping," his mom wrote in a Facebook post.
• "Typical life of a teenager," Jennifer Argiro-Markus, Brayden's mom, added.
• Less than 24 hours later, Braden died by suicide. His family believes he was a victim of cyber "sextortion." Local authorities have opened a criminal investigation into the case.

(https://www.today.com/parents/teens/sextortion-one-mom-warning-parents-sons-death-rcna55471)

Warning Signs

• Withdrawal from family and friends
• Drop in grades or withdrawal from typical activities
• Abnormal behaviors – elevated anxiety, fear, or unexplained anger
• Psychological or physical trauma
• Self harming ideations or actions
• Unexplained sense of urgency to “escape”

Intervention Points

• Two significant points of intervention:

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• Prior to Incident (Preferred)
• Calm, rational, and honest conversation
• Within the household vs. trusted adult

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• Immediately Following Incident
• Shame free, mental health support, law enforcement & school resource notification

How to Help

Encourage Children To:

• Be selective about what they share online
• Utilize strong privacy settings on their social media
• Be wary of strangers online - block or ignore messages 
• Be aware people can pretend to be anyone online
• Be suspicious if someone online asks them to talk on a different platform
• Report any behavior regarding the solicitation or sharing of exploitative images to the platform and to an adult

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How to Help

Encourage Parents To:

• Educate themselves on computer applications, Internet websites, and online forums used by children
• Regularly supervise children’s Internet-related activities
• Talk to children about sextortion and online sexual exploitation, how to prevent it, and what to do if it happens to them

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• Honest – shame free - open

How to Help

How to Respond:

• Don’t frighten them
• Listen attentively and stay calm
• Tell them it’s not their fault
• Help them block the offender’s online accounts
• Assess / monitor for self-harm behaviors
• Have information available for counseling services
• Help them to report it:
• Coming forward can assist in identifying and apprehending offenders
• Coming forward can prevent others from going through the same ordeal

Reporting Sextortion

Preparation:

• Do not delete the chats or pictures or the victim’s account
• Write down all of the offender’s usernames
• Report it as soon as possible

Reporting Mechanisms:

• Local Law Enforcement
• FBI: www.ic3.gov
• NCMEC: www.cybertipline.com
• Social Media Platform’s Reporting / Safety Feature

Resources

Online Education:

• NCMEC: www.missingkids.org
• FBI: www.fbi.gov
• NetSmartz: www.netsmartz.org
• Thorn: www.thorn.org
• Local Child Advocacy Centers

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Removing Images:

• https://takeitdown.ncmec.org

QUESTIONS?

SA Peter Mauro

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pjmauro@fbi.gov