Relentless sex scammers use artificial intelligence to terrorise Geelong teenager

A Geelong teen has been caught up in an international extortion racket threatening to distribute doctored child pornography of him if demands for cash are not met.

A Lara teen has been caught up in an international extortion racket threatening to distribute doctored child pornography of him if demands for cash are not met.

It’s understood more African-based scammers are targeting Geelong schoolboys on Instagram, with one distressed mother issuing a chilling warning to parents to safeguard their social media accounts.

Sarah, not her real name, has revealed the Nigerian syndicate have been calling her and her son directly threatening to “destroy his life” and vowing to “not stop until he is dead”.

Their nightmare started earlier this month after the boy, 13, accepted a friend request from an unknown person on Instagram pretending to be a female.

He was then coerced to add the person on the WhatsApp messaging service, while personal photos from his Instagram account were doctored into explicit images.

The growing trend of sextortion – blackmailing people with naked imagery – has become a widespread problem with Geelong teenagers targeted.

He then received the fake “and very disturbing” pictures directly, with threats to distribute them instantly to his entire network.

“They demanded $1000 at first and then $100 every week or they would send the photos to everyone on his Instagram,” Sarah said.

“These people also then target his mates.

“There needs to be a warning for all teenagers in the Geelong area that their Instagram profile needs to be set to private.”

The incident was reported to Geelong detectives and the Sexual Offences and Child Abuse Investigation Team (SOCIT), who have interviewed the family.

The distraught mother transferred the scammers $75 “out of panic”, but it did not halt the demands.

“I spoke to him myself, and it was one of the scariest experiences you can think of,” she said.

“The things he was saying were just vile, he was literally threatening to kill and destroy us.

“The whole thing has been very frightening and extremely traumatic for my son.”

Police are investigating the incident, but are virtually powerless to stop the crime given it’s occurring offshore.

Gelong police and SOCIT members are investigating the frightening scam. Picture: karen Dodd

It comes as thousands of children across the state continue to be stalked and preyed upon by the relentless global racket, who use sexual images to blackmail for cash and other goods.

Cases are so widespread a specialist team involving Victorian Police and the Australian Federal Police was launched earlier this year.

However, stopping it is proving difficult.

Despite an increase in reporting, the Joint Anti Child Exploitation Team (JACET) fears the problem is worse than first thought, with victims predominantly teenage boys.

Senior intelligence analyst Lauren-Ann Szostak, a member of the specialist sextortion squad, said some are deceived into willingly sending explicit images to the fake accounts and unknown WhatsApp contacts.

The menacing threats soon follow, with demands ranging from cash to gift cards.

“We’ve seen instances where a 13-year-old victim says they can’t pay the financial demand and the scammer has asked how much money they do have and then taken their $10 of pocket money,” Ms Szostak told News Corp.

“It’s awful.

Members from the sextortion squad, DSC Kellie Mervin, LSC Ben Rutherford and Senior Intelligence Analyst Lauren Szostak. Picture: Wayne Taylor.

“Once the images are exchanged the offenders will then usually send them back the images, send them screenshots of their friends list or screenshots of their school or sporting club or workplace and make comments like, ‘Oh this looks like your mum, should I send the pictures to her?

“The threats are tailored towards the victims who are embarrassed, ashamed and frightened, and it’s obviously very, very distressing for them.”

The Lara teen’s ordeal mirrors much of the above, according to Sarah.

She said pressure was “ramped up” on her son with menacing urgency.

“They were giving crazy deadlines for us to transfer money, saying if it’s not done within 15 minutes the images would be shared,” she said.

A heat map of sextortion attempts blocked by Avast shows Australia is considered a high-risk country. Picture: Supplied via NCA NewsWire

“They know what they are doing and how much this kind of thing can affect teenage boys.”

It comes as a new study led by RMIT University and Google found nearly one in six Australians have been victims of sextortion, with men the most vulnerable to random attacks online.

In Victoria, sextortion perpetrators can face up to three years in jail.

Curbing the international problem, however, appears far more complex.

“I urge every parent in Geelong to have a conversation with their teenage kids about online safety,” Sarah said.

“Make them set their accounts to private and never use their real names online.

“This problem is real and it’s bloody scary.”

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Originally published as Relentless sex scammers use artificial intelligence to terrorise Geelong teenager