Sextortion and the Psychology of Fear: How Scammers Are Targeting Teenagers

Sextortion is a form of extortion or blackmail in which a criminals threaten to share private or intimate information or images unless a victim gives them money. Criminals can get hold of these images by compromising credentials or coercing someone into sending the images or create deepfakes (i.e., images created with the help of AI) that depict the victim. Additionally, some forms of sextortion include phishing emails stating that the victim has been filmed without their knowledge. Even though this is typically a lie, many victims are sufficiently scared and end up complying with the scammers’ demands.

Evolution of Sextortion

Sextortion scams have changed over time. Early cases usually involved women being blackmailed by someone they knew, such as an ex-partner, or by someone they met online who obtained private images. The goal was not always money; victims were often pressured into providing more sexual content. Around 2018, sextortion ...