FBI says Austin teen charged in sextortion scheme, allegedly targeted teen boys

AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Federal Bureau of Investigation said a 19-year-old in Austin is at the center of an alleged sextortion scheme.

According to the FBI’s San Antonio Division, Tre Von Harris was recently indicted by a federal grand jury on two counts of sexual exploitation of children and one count of interstate communication of a threat/extortion.

The indictment alleged Harris engaged in a sextortion scheme from as early as November 2022 until his arrest in May 2024.

KXAN reached out to Harris’ attorney listed on a different case against him. We’ll update this story when we hear back.

The FBI said its investigation revealed that Harris did the following:

• Posed as a teenaged female named “Michelle” on various social media platforms
• Targeted mostly males under the age of 18
• Persuaded them to create and send sexually explicit images to “Michelle”

According to the FBI, Harris would sometimes contact victims as himself after getting the videos and would tell them to comply with “Michelle’s” demands. He would then allegedly try to extort them for money or threaten to release the videos to people on their friends lists.

“A very young individual, too. We’re not talking hardened criminal that got out of jail,” FBI Supervisory Special Agent Alex Doran said.

Doran said this case is unique because the suspect was in the country.

“A lot of what we see from a financial motivated sextortion originates overseas, like any of the other online scams,” Doran said.

‘Friends that they never met’

Michigan State University Associate Professor of Criminal Justice Karen Holt said young people are more susceptible to this type of crime because they are more trusting of people online.

“My Facebook friends are all people that I’ve met in person. When I talked to my students, they have friends that maybe they’ve never met in person that they consider friends,” Holt said. “That they’ve met in chat groups, or they’ve met gaming.”

Both Holt and Doran stress the importance of parents talking about online dangers with their kids.

“A lot of my students tell me that they have tons of internet safety when it comes to cyber bullying, but they’ve never heard of sextortion,” Holt said. “Not having that education can be really harmful.”

If a parent finds their child in this situation, Doran said they should do the following:

• Block the account
• Don’t pay them
• Reach out to law enforcement

Increase in sextortion

At the beginning of the year, the FBI reported an increase in sextortion incidents.

“In the six-month period from October 2022 to March 2023, the FBI observed at least a 20% increase in reporting of financially motivated sextortion incidents involving minor victims compared to the same time period the previous year,” the FBI reported.

Doran said they typically see a spike in cases at the beginning of the summer.

“More children at home. They’re online. They’re unsupervised,” Doran said. “We see an increase in reporting from that.”

Finding more potential victims

The FBI said its looking for more potential victims who may have been threatened, harassed, or extorted by this scheme.

The agency believes victims may have been contacted on the following platforms by any of the following social media accounts:

• Snapchat: @michelleisfine, @Trevon512, @Blasiannforgie
• Instagram: @michelleishere, @michelleissohot, @michelleissexyy, @tre.heemm, @michelleishere_, @michelleissovalid, @michelleissofineee, @imissedmichelle, @michelleisbakkk, @blasiannforgie, @yagertrun
• TikTok: @michelleissovalid, @tre.heemm, @pending.tre, @envy.tre, @mostwanted.tre, @user.sexyymfss, @aestheticte3ns, @iiGotyourrrTea
• X (formerly Twitter): @FreakyTierr, @FreakyyTierr_, @fliphon189601, @Whicker448, @idek842428, @likestunnagirl
• Facebook: Harper Michelle (100088544512021), Malayah Michelle (61559184942812), Michell Harper (100090490261176), Michelle Harper (100088743785306), Michelle Harper (100093217243592), Michelle Harper (100093272590718), Trevon Harris (trevon.harris.545)
• Telegram: Sterling Harris (@https_scorpio), Group Chat: Everyone Eats
• CashApp: $teraharri, $trevon512, $michelleissofine, $lilsassybae, $lilsassytre, $moneyinbag30, $moneyinbag17, $moneygirlmove, $Masterrchi, $Elite1Tre

The FBI said if you and/or your minor dependent(s) were victimized by this alleged sextortion scheme or have information relevant to this investigation, fill out this form .

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