Press Release
☷Sextortion A Growing Threat Targeting Minors
Federal Bureau of Investigation ( By Press Release office)
Jan 19,2024
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If you or someone you know is a victim of this kind of thing , don ' t hesitate to report it to the police . You can call the FBI at 1 - 800 - CALL - FBI or go to tips . fbi . gov . And if you want more info , the FBI has some resources on their website about sextortion and financial sextortion . Just go to fbi . gov/sextortion and fbi . gov/how - we - can - help - you/scams - and - safety/common - scams - and - crimes/sextortion/financially - motivated - sextortion . Stay safe out there! In the last six months , there ' s been a 20% increase in these cases compared to the same time last year . It ' s become a big problem all over the country , including here in San Diego . The FBI wants to make sure parents and caregivers are educated about it so they can talk to their kids about staying safe online . Hey , just wanted to give you a heads up about something important . The FBI wants to let parents , educators , caregivers , and kids know about the dangers of being online and how it can lead to minors being pressured into doing sexual things . There ' s this thing called "sextortion" where bad people convince kids to send them explicit pictures or videos , and then threaten to share them unless the kid sends more . These creeps are just looking for some sick pleasure . Most of the victims are boys between 14 and 17 , but anyone can become a target . The offenders are usually in countries like Nigeria , Ivory Coast , or the Philippines . It ' s really messed up because it can even lead to self - harm and suicides . From October 2021 to March 2023 , the FBI and Homeland Security Investigations got over 13 , 000 reports of kids being financially sextorted , with at least 12 , 600 victims and 20 suicides . There ' s also another kind of sextortion where the offender tries to get money out of the kid . They threaten to release the explicit stuff unless they get paid , usually in gift cards or digital money . These guys are all about the cash , not just getting off .
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