Editor's Note: The following story discusses sexually explicit materials, which some readers may find disturbing.
As teens head back to school, the FBI is reporting an increase in scams targeting them, such as sextortion.
Sextortion involves scammers convincing teens to send sexually explicit images or videos to them and then threatening to release those photos or videos unless the victim pays up or produces more.
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“We had one six-month period where I think we went from about 5,800 tips up to over 6,000," said Gregory Hansen, FBI supervisory special agent in charge of investigating human trafficking, including crimes against children. "We're seeing about a 20 to 30% increase from prior years.”
There are two types of sextortion. The traditional is where predators are looking to get more photos from their victims for sexual gratification. The other is financial sextortion, where scammers threaten to send those explicit photos to the victim’s friends or families.
Between October 2021 and March 2023, the FBI and Homeland Security Investigations saw more than 13,000 reports of financial sextortion of minors, including here in San Diego.
These scams typically target teenage boys, Hansen said. And they can have deadly consequences.
“There's one such story where a minor male ended up being contacted 11 at night. By about 4 a.m., maybe even earlier, (he) had already taken his life,” he said.
The FBI says these scams led to at least 20 suicides across the country from October 2021 to March 2023. And it can happen to anyone. The victim Hansen mentioned was a popular three-sport athlete.
Because scammers often operate overseas, Hansen said it's hard to crack down on these crimes, so parents need to have a conversation with their teens about cyber safety — the earlier, the better.
"Traditional sextortion typically targets females," he said. "And the age range there is 10 to 17, so you're seeing them target even younger females."
For boys, the age range is 14 to 17.
That's concerning for Carmen Asnani, who has a daughter in middle school and one entering high school. She gave her daughter the online safety talk as soon as they started having their own phones.
"I have a 12-year-old and a 14-year-old and they've had their phones for probably three years now," she said. "So that discussion happened early on.”
This was not the same safety talk she got as a teenager.
“(It was) the scary person following you, who's on the bike behind you, you know, that type of thing,” she said.
According to the FBI, scammers are targeting teens through gaming platforms and popular social media apps such as Instagram. And it happens faster than you think.
"So between it happening and photos getting sent out and then getting extorted and trying to send money can happen within a few hours to maybe a day or two," Hansen said.
Social media companies are starting to take steps to protect teens from predators and scammers.
Meta, the parent company of Instagram, on Tuesday announced new teen accounts that are more restricted and private by default, with other safeguards that the company introduced.
But Hansen says parents are the best safeguards. He recommends that parents with younger children and teens monitor their online activities and limit their access.
"They shouldn't be up in their bedroom with the door closed, on these devices having free access to the internet," he said. "This should be something that's done in an open area in view of adults. Because it's typically this sextortion and this community that leads to this sexually explicit activity is taking place in private."
Asnani is already doing this with her daughters. She makes sure they do not have their phones with them when they go to bed.
"Now it's it's more dangerous. They're coming into your home without you knowing it," she said. "We don't keep our phones in the bedrooms. We kind of charge them in the living room so they don't have access to that. (At) a certain time, like at 9 o'clock or so, that's it, everything goes in the charging station. And that's something that we do every single night."
And if sextortion does happen, Hansen said the best way to deal with these scammers is to block and report them. Typically, they will move on once blocked.
Hansen said it's important that parents also provide a safe space for children to come to them if anything happens without judgment.
"If your child comes to you and says that they have been extorted — make sure that you are supportive," he said. "Make sure that you are helpful. Make sure that they know that they are not to blame, and make sure that they know that they are not alone."
The FBI has resources for parents to talk to their kids about these scams and how to stay safe online, visit fbi.gov/sextortion.
