You meet someone online and start talking. It turns flirty, then sexy, and then … boom. 

Suddenly that person you thought you were having fun with says she recorded your video chat, and says she is going to share it with your family, friends and boss. The only way to stop her, she says, is to pay her money. Lots of money. 

It’s called sextortion, and it is one of the fastest growing crimes on the internet. Thousands of Americans fall victim to this crime every year, and that number is growing.  

Typically, there is a gang of people behind the person you flirted with, and soon your phone is blowing up with threats and [...]

“The Dr. Phil Show” dedicated an episode March 20 to the story of a couple who said hackers had been attacking them for five years, hacking into multiple devices in an attempt to ruin their marriage and their lives. DFC experts investigated several devices for the episode.

You may not know this, but your cellphone is a little spy.

As you go through your day, your smartphone collects evidence that can be used to recreate your activity. If you take a photo or video, the phone records when and where. All your calls and text messages are logged. Surfing the internet on your phone? Your searches and visited websites are recorded (That’s true even if you are browsing incognito.) GPS data and WiFi connections can pinpoint the places you go.

One of the fastest growing wrinkles in online crime is called “sextortion.” People are lured into sharing extremely personal photos or videos in an online conversation they think will remain private – only to find out they must pay blackmail money to keep those compromising images from being shared with a spouse or a boss. Those pictures might even end up on a website or all over social media if the blackmail isn’t paid.

Sextortion has been around for a while, but it has grown in frequency in recent years as people spend more and more time online.