Research by the top US investigation agency, the FBI, revealed scammers are not even sparing parents of dead teenagers who became the victim of this crime and took their lives. Innocent teenagers who get swayed into the internet of things often end up being targeted by sextortion scammers. Many teenagers have taken their lives after sending nude images to these highly-organised cybercriminal gangs.
Federal Investigation Bureau gave out a warning pointing out that these cybercriminal gangs are now demanding money from parents and siblings of the dead children who became the victims of sextortion. These gangs give out threats to the parents that if they refuse to pay, the nude pictures of their children will be publicly released.
ALSO READ | Study shows practicing mindfulness worked as well as medication prescribed for anxiety
Veteran Homeland Security Investigations supervisory special agent Jim Cole while speaking with Forbes said, “There is no empathy or compassion whatsoever on the side of the criminals.” The FBI findings also reveal that sextortion cases have skyrocketed over the last 18 months. It also noted that the number of cases where the victims end up taking their lives is also on the rise.
ALSO READ | Netflix sets first live-streamed event with Chris Rock special
FBI in a search warrant detailing an investigation into a sextortion campaign being organised via Facebook messages said that they witnessed “a high rate of suicide in minor male victims of financially motivated sextortion schemes.” It also highlighted that the victims “committed suicide within a relatively short time period, sometimes within hours, of the sextortion occurring.”
“Youth are a particularly vulnerable community, yet still have some financial access that’s making it lucrative for these bad actors to be able to take advantage of,” said Lauren Coffren, an executive director at the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC).
WATCH | UN COP27 Climate Summit: CO2 emissions to hit an all-time high, says study
Sextortion has not remained limited to demanding money from the victim and threatening them. It has truly transformed into a much more violent criminal ecosystem, an FBI investigation showed.
Cops while investigating a case claimed that a suspect once wrote, “I’m not afraid of killing someone . . . I’m afraid of getting caught.”
WATCH WION LIVE HERE
You can now write for wionews.com and be a part of the community. Share your stories and opinions with us here.
