sextortion

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Nigerian Brothers Sentenced in Tragic 'Sextortion' Scheme

Samuel Ogoshi and his brother Samson got more than 17 years behind bars

(Newser) - The Nigerian brothers convicted of a "sextortion" scheme that ended with the suicide of a 17-year-old Michigan victim have been sentenced to 17 and a half years behind bars in the US. Samuel and Samson Ogoshi, ages 24 and 21, pleaded guilty in April to conspiring to sexually exploit...

UK MP: 'I've Hurt People by Being Weak'

William Wragg says he revealed colleagues' phone numbers after getting caught up in sexting scam

(Newser) - British lawmakers who may have been targeted in a sexting scam were urged Friday to go to police, after a senior Conservative admitted disclosing the personal phone numbers of some colleagues to an unknown individual who held "compromising" material on him. William Wragg, who chairs the Public Administration and...

Apple, Google Pull App Linked to Sextortion Scams

Wizz, a Tinder-style app aimed at teens, says it's trying to remedy the 'technical hiccup'

(Newser) - A Tinder-style app geared toward teens has been yanked from both Apple and Google's app portals after warnings about sextortion. NBC News reports that, according to emails it viewed, Wizz was pulled on Tuesday from the Apple App Store following pushback from the National Center on Sexual Exploitation on...

There's a Scary Spike in Teen Sextortion Cases

'Washington Post' takes a deep dive into the subject, with a focus on the rise in male victims

(Newser) - Sextortion scams that manipulate teenage boys into sending explicit photos, then blackmail them for money, have "exploded," the Washington Post reports, with incident tips on track to double the already staggering number reported last year. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) says it received around...

SC Lawmaker Created 'Gavin's Law' After Son's Suicide

Teen was victim of 'sextortion' scheme

(Newser) - Freshman South Carolina lawmaker Brandon Guffey doesn't want any other parent to go through the grief and horror he experienced last July, when his 17-year-old son Gavin killed himself hours after he was targeted in an "sextortion" scam. After Gavin shot himself, his family discovering that he had...

FBI Warns of Sextortion Scams Against Teenage Boys

More than a dozen suicides this year are attributed to the schemes, officials say

(Newser) - The FBI sounded the alarm Monday about an explosive increase in teenage boys being targeted online and extorted for money after being tricked into sending sexually explicit pictures. At least 3,000 children, mostly teenage boys, have been victims of the schemes that are connected to more than a dozen...

Teen Killed Himself 3 Hours After 'Sextortion' Started

It's a growing problem that can quickly spiral into tragedy

(Newser) - A family in Manitoba, Canada has a message for parents everywhere: "Make sure your kids know they can come to you or another safe adult with any problem, and nothing is too wrong to fix." By itself, the message could apply to any number of troubles teenagers could...

FBI Warns of Sexual Extortion's Tragic Toll

Young male victims sometimes only see shame, experts say, and can't find a way out

(Newser) - The FBI is increasing its efforts to warn parents and teenagers about sexual extortion scams that are leaving young people consumed by shame and, in some cases, pushed to commit suicide. The crime is not rare: Officials say more than 18,000 complaints related to what they call sextortion were...

Naked Mole Rats Fighting 'Sextortion' in Canada

Nonprofit encourages teens to send naked mole rats instead of naked pics

(Newser) - Incidents of "sextortion"—adults posing as teens to get actual teens to send nude photos, then blackmailing them—are on the rise in Canada. But Canadian teens have a new defender: the humble naked mole rat. Quartz reports a new campaign from the Canadian Center for Child Protection...

Man Accused of 'Massive Sextortion' Plot Gets 38 Years

Anton Martynenko 'terrible human being' for luring teen boys into sending nude pics: victim

(Newser) - What's said to have been the biggest child-pornography production case in Minnesota history ended Tuesday in a St. Paul courtroom, and two of the victims faced down their tormenter there. "We all can now be given freedom from this," one of the unnamed victims, now a young...

Miss Teen USA Tangled in 'Sextortion' Case

Suspect charged with extortion, hacked up to 40 computers: police

(Newser) - A 19-year-old man was charged yesterday with hacking webcams at the home of Miss Teen USA Cassidy Wolf and other women to extort nude photos and videos from them, with authorities contending he forced several women to strip. Jared James Abrahams of Temecula surrendered to FBI agents to face an...

Teen 'Sextortion' on the Rise
 Teen 'Sextortion' on the Rise 
Aug 15, 2010 1:10 PM CDT

Teen 'Sextortion' on the Rise

Girls flash their boobs online...then get extorted

(Newser) - Sexting isn't the only thing parents have to worry about these days: "Sextortion" is on the rise, and it's pretty ugly. Federal prosecutors say they're seeing an uptick in cases of online sexual extortion, in which teens who reveal their bodies via the Internet are then contacted by pornographers...

12 Stories