‘Traumatised, violated’: Overseas sextortion rackets targeting vulnerable kids

Schools are taking out special cyber-bullying insurance, amid alarming revelations that overseas criminals posing as students are targeting Queensland kids for sextortion.

Schools are taking out special cyber-bullying insurance, amid alarming revelations that overseas criminals posing as students are targeting kids for sextortion.

An investigator working for a new Queensland school cyber safety insurer recently uncovered a shock sextortion case in which a male Year 9 student from a top private college was targeted by Hong Kong-based criminals masquerading as a female pupil from another school.

The boy was forced to hand over $500 to the criminals after they threatened to expose explicit photos he had sent the “girl” who he had connected with on Snapchat.

The sextortion case was cracked by online investigator Casey Pyne, who works with Queensland school cyber safety company Cybernetic Shield.

The firm has just launched a “world-first” cyber protection system for students and staff underpinned by an insurance scheme that funds investigations into cyber-bullying incidents and threats, psychological counselling, online safety lessons and tech support by a team of experts.

Ms Pyne said sextortion was increasingly being used by overseas crime syndicates who were targeting private school students from wealthy families.

She said the boy preyed on by the Hong Kong criminals, who tried to extort him of $1500 before he told his parents, had been left traumatised.

Overseas scammers are increasingly targeting Australian kids.

“He thought he had this thing going on with a girl,” she said.

“He’s a good, smart kid and never thought something like this could ever happen to him. But love is blind at the best of times and these criminals are incredible social engineers – they have whole teams doing this.”

Ms Pyne said similar sextortion and cyber-bullying incidents were behind an upsurge in youth suicides and self-harm incidents.

“It’s horrible,” she said.

“They’re targeting vulnerable kids and the effects of it are devastating because they just feel so violated. What they think is real is just not, and they feel duped and stupid.”

Cybernetic Shield education director Jean Yates said children were starting school technologically literate but without the skills and knowledge needed to stay safe online, and cyber-bullying and sextortion was becoming “dire”.

“It’s becoming an increasing problem and if we can help even one student leave school unscarred and without any form of self-harm, then we’ve done our bit to help the community,” she said.

“Cyber-bullying and cyberthreats are not going away, so it is important that schools have a robust approach to ongoing online safety to mitigate and respond to cyberthreats to students and staff while limiting financial and reputational damage.”

Luke Twyford, Principal Commissioner of the Queensland Family and Child Commission, told the recent Cybernetic Shield launch that suicide was now the leading cause of death among 10-14-year-olds “and what we’re currently doing isn’t working”.

Australian Boarding Schools Association CEO Richard Stokes said increasing reliance on technology exposed schools to sensitive student data being compromised, increasing the risk of online harm.

Bayside Christian College at Hervey Bay recently became the first school to partner with Cybernetic Shield.

“The fact that this innovative solution covers the entire school cohort 24/7 was a major drawcard for me in our key role of keeping students and staff safer,” principal Brian Grimes said.