‘Sextortion’ alert in schools after surge in teenage victims
An alert has been sent out to teachers after an eightfold increase in cases of teenage “sextortion”.
The National Crime Agency (NCA) issued the warning on Monday after a surge in scams targeting children.
It highlighted the “devastating” impact on the lives of young people duped into handing over intimate photos.
Sextortion is blackmail in which criminals threaten to release nude or semi-nude photos of someone – real or fake – unless the victim pays them.
The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) showed that in 2023, there were eight times more cases of sextortion than the previous year.
Confirmed reports shot up from 21 to 176, with a large proportion of victims being boys aged between 14 and 18.
Nine out of 10 (91 per cent) UK cases dealt with by the IWF in 2023 concerned male victims, according to the NCA.
Gangs in West Africa and South East Asia
The number of global cases reported to the US National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children shot up from 10,731 in 2022 to 26,718 in 2023.
Gangs based in some West African countries and South East Asia are thought to be targeting young people across the UK, US, Australia, New Zealand and Canada.
They often pose as another young person, making contact on social media before moving to encrypted messaging apps and encouraging the victim to share intimate images.
The gangs were motivated by extorting as much money as possible rather than sexual gratification, the NCA said.
Its child exploitation and online protection (CEOP) education team on Monday issued guidance to teachers about spotting the signs of this type of abuse, supporting young people and encouraging them to seek help.
The document includes advice for parents and carers on how to talk to children about sextortion and how to support them if they become a victim.
It suggests victims stop communication, block the offender and do not give them any money.
Victims are also instructed to avoid deleting anything that could be used as evidence and to report incidents to the police or CEOP.
James Babbage, the NCA’s director general for threats, said: “Sextortion causes immeasurable stress and anguish, and we know there are adults and young people who have taken their own lives as a result.”
Marie Smith, the NCA’s head of CEOP education, said falling prey to the scams had a devastating impact on the children’s lives and those of their families.
She said of the criminals: “They’re extremely malicious, they do not care about that child or that child’s life.”
It comes after a 16-year-old private school pupil killed himself after he was blackmailed on Snapchat over nude photographs.
Dinal De Alwis represented Whitgift School, Croydon, at rugby and football and hoped to study economics at Cambridge after achieving straight A*s in all his GCSE subjects. He killed himself in October 2022.
Demands within hour of contact
The criminals work quickly, with some blackmail demands being made within an hour of first contact with a young person.
Susie Hargreaves, the chief executive of the IWF, said: “Sextortion has become a major threat online in the last few years. This alert to schools is an absolutely crucial intervention in stemming this epidemic which has already ruined so many young lives. These criminals are cold-blooded.”
Tom Tugendhat, the security minister, said sextortion “destroys lives”, adding: “It’s vital that technology companies take responsibility for the safety of their users by implementing stronger safeguards on their platforms.
“I would urge parents to talk to their children about their use of social media. Even sites that many assume to be safe may pose a risk.”
Richard Collard, the associate head of child safety online policy at the NSPCC, said: “Children must be supported to spot signs of abuse, but the burden should not be on them to protect themselves from harm online.
“Tech companies must step up and actively tackle the threat of sexual extortion on their platforms by putting safeguards in place and identifying dangerous behaviour.”
