Pennsylvania State Police warning public of potentially fatal sextortion scams

(WHTM) — Pennsylvania State Police are warning the public of potentially fatal sextortion scams that have been reported across the state.

Social media posts, mainly originating from Nigeria, are targeting teenage boys. According to State Police Lt. Col. George Bivens, scammers are “posing as young females, getting young males here to send photos.”

Lt. Col. Bivens says the scammers are preying on unsuspecting teenagers by encouraging them to send compromising, sometimes sexually suggestive, videos and photos.

“What they’re doing is getting those photos and then threatening to sell them on the dark web,” Bivens explained. “They’re threatening to make them public, that their friends and family, classmates and so forth see what they’ve done.”

The scammers then demand money that the teenagers typically don’t have. Fearing shame and ridicule, a disturbing number of children in Pennslyvania have taken their own lives.

“We’ve had people throw themselves in front of vehicles,” Bivens says. “We’ve had people jump from high places.”

“With the shame and stigma that comes along with a sextortion scam, people are ashamed of that, so sometimes they’re willing to kill themselves,” Executive Director of the Suicide Prevention Alliance Govan Martin said. “If someone’s in a scam, they need to tell somebody immediately. They need to tell their parents, and they need to tell law enforcement so that they can get connected.”

State Police agree, saying attractive online photos from unknown people likely hide an ugly reality. If you are someone you know is caught up in a scam, police want to help you, and prosecute them.

“You have a victim child who is afraid to come forward and say anything because they have a fear that they’re going to be in trouble with their parents or the law, which is what these predators are telling them,” said an officer in Pennsylvania’s Cyber Police Unit. “And the truth is, we are not prosecuting children in these cases. They are the victim.”

“Really what we’re looking for is we want parents to have a conversation with their teenagers,” Bivens said. “They need to know that this is out there and that it’s a growing concern. We need to proactively address this and see if we can lessen those numbers or eliminate it.”

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has a website with more information on these topics and resources for parents.

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