Sextortion cases are carried out by malicious emotional manipulators who follow sophisticated scripts that isolate victims and make them feel helpless. Sextortion is a particular threat to internet users who are unaware of the scams and the tactics used to entice victims.
The best way to protect yourself from sextortion is to understand the scam in all its variations and to learn from real-world sextortion cases. Fortunately, with the right knowledge, you will be able to spot the warning signs of sextortion long before the criminal can lure you into their trap.
Types of Sextortion to Watch Out For
Traditional Financial Sextortion: This is when a criminal uses a false online persona, commonly on social media or dating apps, to lure unsuspecting users into a fraudulent relationship.
Once enough trust is built, they trick the victim into sharing sexually intimate images and threaten to expose the victim’s content unless they pay a certain amount of money.
Email-Based Sextortion: Criminals using these scams typically don’t bother to build relationships with their victims. Instead, they use contact information found in data breaches to immediately send a sextortion threat in an email.
The criminals will often make empty claims that they’ve hacked the victim’s computer, capturing sexually explicit footage recorded from the victim’s webcam.
The “Age Play” Trap: A criminal will present themselves online as a young adult interested in an unsuspecting user, commonly an older adult. After building a relationship with their target, they progress into sexual intimacy where explicit images are exchanged.
However, this is when the criminal will falsely inform the target that they are actually a minor while using the same fake persona or presenting themselves as the parent. Next, the criminal will threaten to report you to the police for possessing child sexual abuse material (CSAM) unless you pay them.
Sexual Deepfakes: This is a new type of scam that has emerged with the development of AI. Sextortionists will use harmless images on social media to create convincing nudes using deepfake technology. They may superimpose a victim’s face onto sexually explicit content or use generative AI to completely manufacture the fakes.
Using these fabricated nudes, the criminal will threaten to expose the victim if they don’t comply with their demands. Sexual deepfakes are commonly used against famous individuals, such as Taylor Swift and Scarlett Johansson.
Real Sextortion Stories: Documented Cases
Going through sextortion may feel isolating, but there are thousands of cases of sextortion every year. However, you don’t have to take our word for it. These real sextortion stories are examples of how other victims have dealt with sextortion and the tactics criminals used to target them.
A Sextortion Case: A British Lawmaker’s Resignation
Prominent Member of Parliament William Wragg made an announcement that he had sent the personal numbers of several other members to a man extorting him on Grindr. The criminal threatened to expose compromising content of Wragg and demanded the numbers of his colleagues. Wragg resigned shortly after the announcement, and the scam resulted in at least 12 men in political circles receiving suspicious messages.
This real sextortion story is a perfect example that anyone can be a victim, from everyday people to famous politicians and public figures. The sextortion case also demonstrates that compliance is not an effective deterrent against cybercriminals.
Ohio Resident Targeted by Sextortion Scam Email
A resident of Bedford, Ohio received a threatening email from someone who claimed to have installed malware on their device. The sender alleged that the malware provided access to the device’s camera and microphone. They claimed to have used this to secretly record the resident while they were watching adult content.
The email offered the victim two choices: pay the scammer $2K in Bitcoin to keep the footage private or ignore the email and risk the footage being sent to all their contacts. The email also included an image of the resident’s house — taken from Google Images — along with the victim’s phone number and address. The scammer used personal information to make the threat feel more credible and legitimate.
However, the claims were, of course, all false and an attempt to steal money from the victim. Sextortionists tend to send these types of emails to a large group of unsuspecting targets, hoping that the claims resonate with someone’s personal circumstances.
You should always assess the legitimacy of the threat during a sextortion incident. It’s a common tactic for cybercriminals to falsely claim to possess something incriminating about you to trick you into complying with their demands.
An Example of the “Age Play” Trap
Another real sextortion story demonstrates how the “age play” trap works. In 2023, 35-year-old Glenn Daeward Boyd posed as a young woman on a dating app and lured a 22-year-old man from Michigan into a relationship. After two days of messaging, Boyd sent an explicit image under this false persona to the victim.
Then, the criminal “confessed” to being a minor. Boyd posed as the minor’s grandparents and threatened to expose that the victim engaged with child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Unfortunately, the victim’s story ended in tragedy as a result of the distressing threats.
In the digital age, you should familiarize yourself with the signs of catfishing. These scammers are typically only interested in money and luring victims into a trap. They will progress quickly in a way that feels inauthentic and create constant excuses to avoid meeting face to face.
Another red flag can be found on their profile. Catfish accounts often have images and information that doesn’t align with what they reveal in conversation. Lastly, in an “age play” trap, it’s important to remember that there are no parents or police officers. There is simply a criminal with an elaborate scam.
Sextortion Deepfakes Weaponized Against a Meteorologist
Bree Smith was a familiar face in Nashville as the local meteorologist. However, her career came to an end after battling sextortion threats for months. Initially, Bree received an email containing sexual deepfakes and a threat to send them to anyone who may recognize her.
The threats and deepfakes continued to multiply along with fake accounts posing as her on social media. Eventually, she decided to step down from her position to protect her privacy. This real sextortion story demonstrates the new danger of sexual deepfakes amid rapidly developing technology.
Real Sextortion Solutions: Where Victims can Turn for Help
In sextortion cases like these, victims can work with a cybersecurity expert to identify the responsible culprit. Criminals often hide behind online anonymity to perform cybercrimes without being held accountable. However, law enforcement and private cybersecurity firms can trace the digital footprint of the non-consensual intimate image abuse. Through this, they can discover the geolocation and original device used to commit the crime. They can even unmask the identity of the perpetrator and leave them vulnerable to future legal action.
If you need help with your sextortion case and you want a team of professionals to work on your behalf, turn to Digital Forensic Corp. We have cybersecurity experts that are committed to protecting sextortion victims and targeting cybercriminals where it hurts most — their anonymity. Contact us today for a free consultation.
