The sextortion trend ruining Qld lives: How to prevent it
A Queensland sextortion victim swindled out of hundreds of dollars says he didn’t realise it was a scam until things quickly turned sinister. Here’s how to protect yourself.
Police & Courts
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X-rated scammers are tricking more innocent Queenslanders than ever before into sharing their most intimate photos online before using them to swindle thousands of dollars.
The disturbing trend of “sextortion” in online chats and message platforms has more than doubled in just one year, with at least 30 Queenslanders scammed every week last year.
According to police, 1580 sextortion reports were made in the state in 2022 compared to only 642 in 2021.
Most of the scammers use dating sites, gaming platforms or social media apps to find their victims and to seduce them.
They will pressure the victim to move their conversation to a chat program like WhatsApp or Snapchat where it quickly moves to asking for naked photos.
The scammer may also send intimate photos pretending to be them, which gives the victims a false sense of security.
Once the victim hits send on their private pictures, the scammer ramps up their threats for money.
A male victim swindled out of almost $1000 earlier this month said he didn’t realise it was a scam at first, but things quickly turned sinister.
“Every photo looked real and every video was the same girl,” the man said.
“After a short while I received screenshots of all the photos I had sent with a payment demand of $1000 or all my followers would receive the photos and videos I sent.”
The victim “talked down” the ransom to $600, but the scammer demanded more.
“He said his boss would leak the photos anyway and sent me very real looking screenshots of three messages to three different followers of mine including my mum.
“She said she never received anything so I proceeded to block the account and haven’t had an attempted contact from him since.”
Queensland Financial and Cyber Crime Group Operation Commander Detective Acting Superintendent Mike Newman said the brazen “sextortion” scam was on the rise and people needed to be alert.
“This is concerning for us, with more and more traditional crimes becoming cyber-enabled we need to be more and more cyber-literate,” Superintendent Newman said.
Supt Newman said the rise of technology and Covid-19 lockdowns caused a recipe for disaster for cyber crime, especially sextortion.
In his experience, 99 per cent of victims were men, and majority of the scammers were offshore.
They will usually demand amounts around $1000, but Supt Newman said he had dealt with one case where a demand for $10,000 was made and sent to a scammer.
“Never pay,” he said.
“They will bargain with you, they are after any amount they can get. In essence they are preying on volume not value.”
Supt Newman said most scammers were all talk, but another victim, also swindled in January, said their scammer followed through with their threats.
“Once I had sent the photo she began demanding money and threatening to send my photos to family and friends,” the victim said.
“When I refused to pay she forwarded my picture to three people from my Instagram list. She first demanded $1000, then $500, $300 and then $100 … I’ve stopped responding.”
A former Victoria Police officer turned cyber safety expert, Susan McLean said sextortion was “insidious” and often happened in “under three minutes”.
She said in her experience, up to 20 per cent of victims were teenage boys who “think with that body part below the waist rather than their brain”.
“The other account will send a nude photo to the boy, the boy will immediately send one back and then the blackmail starts,” she said.
“Because they have received an (explicit photo) first, they think ‘well I’ve got one of them, I’ll just send one back’ – kids are inherently trusting.
“Parents need to talk to their children about sextortion but also get devices out of bedrooms and bathrooms because your son is not going to take a d*ck pic in the kitchen.”
Ms McLean said she knew a teenage boy that paid $3000, as he had a “part time job and was saving up for a car”.
Supt Newman said the best thing to do was to ignore the scammer and lock down your privacy settings on social media.
“Generally the scammers’ accounts are very, very new accounts with almost always no online profile, no other friends … it looks like they’ve literally just been created,” he said.
He said these types of crimes were likely a bigger issue as victims were often too ashamed to report the crime.
“Some people are angry they’ve been derived and lied to and left themselves, literally, exposed to this crime,” he said.
Cyber crime has skyrocketed by 43 per cent in Queensland in the last two years as more traditional crimes move online.
Supt Newman said they were attacking the problem, but needed people to do their part in avoiding sextortion.
“Never take a naked selfie. “Don’t take the photo, then you’re not at risk.”
THE VICTIMS
CASE 1
A male teacher sent photos of himself after receiving intimate photos from a female on a dating site after a few hours of conversation. After sending images, the man was threatened that his photos would be posted to the school website if he did not pay her $2000. The man did not pay the demand and reported the profile to the dating site and police.
CASE 2
A 15-year-old boy was groomed to send naked selfies after receiving the same from a girl via Snapchat. She sent provocative photos of herself and asked for photos from him. She then suggested to “play some games and exchange photos” with “no screen shot and stays between us”. Once he sent a photo the girl threatened to ruin the boy’s life and post the naked photos of him to all his friends if he did not pay a sum of money.
CASE 3
A man was added on Instagram by a 21-year-old woman living in Sydney who asked to add him on Snapchat. The man was immediately sent a photo of the woman in bed. She asked for a photo of his face, which despite sounding rather odd, he obliged and was then sent more videos. He was then asked to send a video of his face, which once again he obliged. He was then threatened with the video being leaked to his friends list on Instagram, of which they accessed due his account being public. They demanded he send $700 or a $300 Apple or steam wallet card.
CASE 4
A man thought he was talking to a woman and had sent an intimate photo showing his face. The “woman” screen-shotted and demanded the man send $500 otherwise they would ruin his life. They then contacted the man asking him to send them money to save his life and then they will delete the photo. He didn’t pay the person and reported it.
SCAMMER’S OWN WORDS
“I have your nudes and everything I need to ruin your life, I have screen shots of your followers and tags and those who commented on your posts – I can make it go viral and send to your friends all you have to do is co-operate with me and I will delete your s--t, if you try to block me I got your friends already and gonna (sic) ruin your life.”
THE WARNING SIGNS
* You are quickly asked to change to a private chat app
* They have almost no online profile
* They quickly ask for sexual photos and/or videos of you.
* Their webcam is broken, they offer excuses to avoid video of themselves
* They ask for help and say it is an emergency
WHAT TO DO
* Never send naked or intimate images, especially to someone you do not know.
* Do not send any money
* Stop all contact, block their profile and warn your friends of their account name
* Change your passwords and online accounts, review your privacy settings
* Report the matter
* Stop and think before sending photos of yourself
* If you have been the victim, report this online at ReportCyber
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