- April 18, 2024
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The Federal Bureau of Investigation's Jacksonville field office is warning local families that online predators are engaging in "sextortion," targeting young people by getting them to share sexually explicit images, then using the images to blackmail them for money or more photos.
"Please tell your children, whoever they are talking to on the other end of the line, if they do not know them personally, that person could be anyone."
— AMANDA VIDELL, public affairs officer, FBI Jacksonville
"Predators pretend to be of like age and have similar interests," FBI Jacksonville Public Affairs Officer Amanda Videll said on Flagler Broadcasting's "Free For All Friday" on April 22.
It will sometimes start out with requests that seem fairly innocent, like asking for the victim to send a photo of themselves clothed and smiling for the camera, but quickly progresses to requests for images that the criminal can use for blackmail.
"Once the offender gets images that they think they can use to extort their victims," Videll said, "they will then say to them, 'I've obtained the photos and videos from you. Now, if you don't take even more egregious photos and videos .... then I will release what you've already sent to me to your parents, to your church groups, to your coaches, to your teachers. I'm going to ruin your life if you do not do what I say. I own you now.' And these children are so victimized and so very embarrassed."
The children, predictably, are often scared to come forward and traumatized by the experience.
These crimes are "woefully underreported," Sheriff Rick Staly said.
Staly said he's increasing the Flagler County Sheriff's Office's Cyber Crimes Unit from one deputy to two because of the volume of cyber crime.
"I've been shocked on the arrests that we've made through ICAC, which is Internet Crimes Against Children, with kids that are taking pictures, and then selling them, and not necessarily an extortion side, but trying to profiteer from creating these these graphic images," Staly said. "And it's just been amazing the age that the kids that we have arrested or investigating for doing that."
Videll noted that children who've been coerced by an adult predator into sharing explicit underage images of themselves won't be penalized for coming forward, but youths selling underage sexual images or victimizing other kids face life-altering consequences.
Sextortion can happen on almost any platform, from social media to gaming apps, and targets boys as well as girls, Videll said.
Some offenders are blackmailing the victims mostly for financial reasons, others to collect pornography.
"What we are actually seeing now, more over the last few months, is an alarming rise in the number of cases of young teen boys, particularly between the ages of 14 and 17, being targeted — not for more egregious sexually explicit images, but for money," Videll said.
Just yesterday, she said, a local boy came forward and said he'd been chatting online with someone he thought was a girl, and had sent her some images.
"This offender came back and said, 'I'm not who you think I am, now, if you don't want me to release these photos, you need to send me whatever money is in your account,'" Videll said. "He sent a picture of his debit card; the offender immediately removed the $60 that he had in his account."
In 2021, Videll said, about $13.6 million was stolen in sextortion scams nationwide.
"That's what was reported to us," she said. "We know that these types of crimes are most of the time not reported because of the guilt, the shame, the embarrassment that the victims feel. So we're very concerned about the number of teens who are falling victim to this."
She advised parents to have conversations with their kids about online safety.
"Please tell your children, whoever they are talking to on the other end of the line, if they do not know them personally, that person could be anyone," Videll said. "If they are even acting like a child, talking like a child — it doesn't matter. These predators are very good at what they do. They sometimes have hundreds of victims across the world, so they know how to talk to kids and to engage with them, to pull them and pull them into these types of crimes."
A one-time conversation isn't enough, she said.
"If you do not continue to engage with your child, and in their device, you are essentially putting them on a street corner in a major city and saying to them, 'I've taught you right from wrong, I think you're good now,'" Videll said. "It's not the kids that are going to go out looking for trouble as they navigate that city, but it's all the things along the way — all the bad people and offenders along the way that are going to continue to come after them."
Staly noted that parents can also use software that monitors children's smartphone use and bars them from certain websites.
"You just have to be an active parent," Staly said. "What happens sometimes today is parents want to be the friend to their child. It's great to be the friend of your child. But you're the parent first."
To report sextortion crimes, contact a local FBI field office, call 1-800-CALL-FBI, or report it online at https://www.fbi.gov/tips.
