Sextortion cases targeting children and teens on the rise, FBI warns

INDIANAPOLIS – The Federal Bureau of Investigation says sextortion cases are on the rise in central Indiana.

Sextortion involves predators who convince their victims to share sexually explicit material—and then use it to blackmail them. The FBI Indianapolis is seeing a significant spike in these types of cases targeting children and teens.

It can start off innocently enough as a conversation on social media, a messaging app or dating service before taking a turn that leads to demands for cash, threats to “leak” nude photos and solicitations for more explicit material.

Greenfield Police Chief Brian Hartman described how the scheme typically works.

“If they get a picture, they can Photoshop it and then they send it back and they’re like, ‘This is what I now have, and you have two hours to pay me a certain amount of money. Or I’m gonna send it to all your friends, all your family.’”

Hartman said the perpetrators threaten to ruin victims’ lives—and many of those targeted simply don’t know what to do.

“These kids now are, they’re scared, you know, what do we do?” Hartman said. “Do, I send the money? If I tell my parents, I’m gonna get in trouble.”

Those who fall victim to sextortion can become depressed or suicidal and feel like there’s no way out.

Hartman and the FBI advise parents to monitor kids’ online behavior. They should be aware of various apps, understand their potential dangers and put some guidelines in place.

“Parents need to, if they’re going to allow them to have social media, they need to know what apps they’re on. They need to have their username. They need to have their user password and they need to do checks on these apps to see who their kids are talking to,” Hartman said.

Parents should let their kids know they can approach them with any problems and keep the lines of communication open.

“They’re gonna be scared, they’re gonna act different,” Hartman said. “They’re gonna be depressed if you start to notice that, that’s when you have to open up the conversation with your child and say, ‘No matter what is going on in your life, I can’t help you if you don’t tell me.’”

According to the Better Business Bureau, scammers sometimes make empty threats to expose compromising photos or proof that someone visited adult websites, even if that proof doesn’t exist.

The BBB recommends internet users—regardless of their age—keep their guard up.

“Don’t put yourself in situations where you can be blackmailed,” said Jennifer Adamany with the Better Business Bureau Central Indiana. “So never send compromising images or videos to people, even if you trust them because once you share that you lose control of the content.”

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