URBANA, Ill. (WCIA) — Law enforcement is investigating after three sexual exploitation scams targeted U of I students in the last nine days. Now, the University of Illinois Police Department (UIPD) is looking for answers .
Lt. Grant Briggs doesn’t believe the three incidents are related, but that doesn’t take away from the severity of each case.
“This is a situation where the perpetrator is in the wrong, the victim isn’t,” the detective said. “They shouldn’t feel ashamed that they were scammed, these are very well-devised scams.”
In the most recent incidents of Sept. of 2024 , police reported a student was talking to someone online when things escalated. Inappropriate photos were shared and the scammer demanded money when threatening to send those pictures to others.
Americans have lost $2.7 billion to social media scams since 2021, report finds Briggs said scammers are often from places around the world; making it tougher to investigate. Sometimes it can take months to find suspects.
In past investigations, he has noticed scammers sometimes ask for a large amount of money and later decrease the price. Other times, it’s the other way around. Sometimes the victims are scammed out of thousands of dollars and feel embarrassed.
Briggs said numbers trending like this are pretty typical for the start of the school year. There is usually a wave of scams as classes begin.
Bank warns of voice-based AI scams that could utilize your social media posts “I don’t really know the cause of that,” he said. “Whether it’s just people are new to the area, or maybe they’re new to being out on their own and they’re being approached and think, maybe they don’t have the level of caution that they think maybe they should. That makes them susceptible targets.”
If you are unfamiliar with the person you’re talking with online, Briggs recommends using caution. He suggests keeping your social media accounts set to “private” so scammers can’t learn too many more details about you.
The FBI has more resources to deal with financial sextortion.
University Police asks any student who believes they may have been scammed to call 217-333-1216 or email police@illinois.edu . UIPD also has a form to message officers anonymously.
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