How a sexy Snapchat became blackmail: SA Police reveal almost 600 reports of sextortion in 12 months

Police issue warning to schools as hundreds of South Australians - the youngest a 12 year old child and the oldest 71 - fall victim to online sex scams.

Hundreds of South Australians fell victim to online sex scams in 12 months. Artwork: Steven Grice

• How police caught SA’s biggest cyber criminals

When it dawned on Ken that the person he was talking to online was not who they said they were, it was already too late.

The 27-year-old, whom The Advertiser has chosen not to name to protect his identity, had sent an exposed picture of himself over social media to an account he thought would be a romantic partner.

But as he discovered within minutes of sending the photo, it was not all what it seemed.

4500+ REPORTS: SA CYBER COPS’ BIGGEST CATCHES

“A fake account on Instagram added me and got me to add them on Snapchat,” he said.

“From there they got me to send a photo of me in a sexually explicit way and expose my face as well.

“They then screen shot that and decided to blackmail me until I sent them money.

“As soon as they got what they wanted, it became blackmail straight away.”

Over the coming weeks, Ken sent the scammers $5000 in a desperate bid to stop the photo being published, but eventually ran out of money.

“I ended up going to the police, they said ignore it – we got it from here,” he said.

“But they weren’t able to track them down by email, they just said stop contacting them.”

The South Australian said the scammers sent the image to some people he knew, but he was surprised when they were understanding and realised he was the victim.

“I still have implications from it from relationships, you’ve got to explain to your partner or future partners how you’ve lost that amount of money,” he said.

“It’s not a good situation to be in, you look like an idiot, you’ve gained nothing, your back at square one, with less money and trying to explain to people how you lost it.

“The only advice I can give is that if it seems too good to be true then it is.”

In cases like Ken’s, South Australia Police help victims of sextortion shut down their social media and reopen them under different names, distancing themselves from the pressure of online threats and demands for money.

Officer in charge of Finance and Cybercrime Investigation Branch Detective Superintendent Adam Rice said the unit had seen an increase in sextortion activity.

The youngest reported target of sextortion in SA was only 12 while the oldest was 71.

In the 2022-23 financial year there were 584 reports of sextortion with total losses of $308,000.

Cybercrime Investigation Branch Detective Senior Sergeant Adam Serafini said sextortion was not only intimate images sent online, it could also be photoshopping of social media photos into compromising positions.

“There is a third type called collaging which is where there is a mixture of images including a genuine social media photo which has been harvested from online and is not necessarily intimate, but it is accompanied by other intimate photos where the identity of the person is concealed,” he said.

“By virtue of the fact that they are all together it is inferred that they are the same person.”

A final type of sextortion is called bulk email extortion in which tens of thousands of emails are sent to targets all with a message saying that personal details, including internet searches have been leaked.

The scammers demand money or threaten to send the internet search details to their friends and families.

However, in nearly all cases the scammers don’t have the details.

Superintendent Rice said young victims had found themselves wrapped up in disseminating child exploitation material when re-sharing released images among their friend groups.

He said police had needed to speak to several school groups about sending that kind of material between themselves.

“If you are part of a circle that is doing that, it is important not to on send that material because not only are you committing an offence, you are further victimising a person,” he said.

Originally published as How a sexy Snapchat became blackmail: SA Police reveal almost 600 reports of sextortion in 12 months