Young males made up 90% of complaints related to what the Australian Federal Police call financial sextortion during a recent uptick in complaints from victims about extortion online.
Recent statistics from the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation reveal that overseas offenders target teenage boys with the objective of getting them to send sexualised pictures or videos of themselves with the offenders threatening to share the content unless the victim pays them.
The surge in complaints over the Christmas-New Year break was predicted by the AFP following intelligence obtained from overseas agencies.
AFP acting assistant commissioner Hilda Sirec said that the extortionists will target a victim’s contact list on social media as a part of an extortion scam.
“This type of financial sextortion involves victims being coerced by online offenders into sending sexualised images or videos of themselves, usually with the offender pretending to be another young person. The offender then threatens to on-share the content with others unless the victim pays,” Sirec said.
“When this happens to someone under the age of 18, it is online child sexual exploitation and I want to reassure victims of this crime that they will not be in trouble with the police for coming forward and reporting.”
Sirec said that parents, carers, and friends of victims need to ensure that conversations about online risks
The AFP and AUSTRAC have used their powers to ensure more than 1,000 different bank, financial services and digital currency accounts linked with this type of activity were shut down between June and December last year.
These account closures are a part of what the AFP and AUSTRAC have called Operation Huntsman, an initiative designed to disrupt criminal networks engaged in extortion.
Sirec also said that parents and other people associated with victims need to ensure they reassure victims that they are not at fault or responsible for the fact they were targeted by extortionists online.
“Some victims are unwilling to report the abuse and even deny that anything has happened if identified and contacted by police because they may feel a sense of shame or embarrassment,” she said.
“Conversations with children and young people about the risks online need to be open and honest, and victims need to be made to feel supported and understood.”
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