This story discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, please contact the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-TALK (8255). Tamia and Tim Woods’ reality became a “nightmare” Nov. 19, 2022, when their 17-year-old, all-American son died by suicide after becoming the victim of a sextortion scheme on […]
The U.S. Department of Justice wants an Arizona man held without bail after he allegedly Honolulu girl for more than a year using sexually explicit photos and one of his more than 100 Instagram accounts. Dustin Hill, 24, was indicted May 16 on a single count of sexual exploitation of a child. He was originally […]
This story discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, please contact the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-TALK (8255). A Chicago man admitted to targeting “dozens” of gay men in a cyberstalking and sextortion scheme and threatened to expose their concealed sexual orientation and leak their explicit […]
This story discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, please contact the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-TALK (8255). A South Carolina mother is suing Snapchat after her 13-year-old son died by suicide last year. The family says young Timothy Barnett took his own life April 6, […]
On March 25, 2022, Jennifer Buta learned that her son, Jordan DeMay, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. It happened just hours after the 17-year-old was a victim of “financial sextortion,” targeted by two brothers from Nigeria who posed as a young woman online. The brothers, who were extradited to the U.S. and pleaded guilty […]
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) – Reports of online sextortion are up by more than 300%, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The crime is one of the greatest risks kids and teens face online, but parents don’t always realize it’s happening until it’s too late. It starts with a simple request, but […]
Glenn Daeward Boyd, 35, allegedly posed as a woman, sent a naked photo to a man and then claimed to be only 15 and threatened to expose the man as a pedophile The first time the 35-year-old man allegedly reached out on a dating website to another man in Michigan over the summer, he introduced […]
MARQUETTE, Mich. (WJMN) — Two men from Nigeria pled guilty in a federal courtroom Wednesday two years after their actions in an online sextortion scheme led to the death of Marquette teenager Jordan DeMay. Samuel and Samson Ogoshi were charged with four counts related to the blackmail scheme, where they used hacked social media accounts […]
This story discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, please contact the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-TALK (8255). Two Nigerian brothers pleaded guilty on Wednesday to conspiring to sexually exploit teenage boys through sexual extortion, or “sextortion,” two years after one such scheme led to a […]
Meta has unveiled a range of new safety features designed to protect users, in particular young people, from “sextortion” and intimate image abuse. The social media giant – which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp – has confirmed it will begin testing a nudity filter in Direct Messages (DMs) on Instagram. Called Nudity Protection, this feature […]
Mar. 24—Between 2021 and 2023, the number of online enticement reports increased nationally by 323 %, according to one estimate. A surge in cases of children being groomed into sharing compromising photos with strangers who then extort them for money or more images has prompted law enforcement to remind parents to monitor online activity. Sextortion, […]
Warning: This story deals with suicide. If you or someone you know has been the victim of sexual extortion, or is struggling with mental health, you can find resources for help at the bottom of this story. As the first anniversary of 17-year-old Harry Burke’s death approaches, his parents are going public with their story, […]