Report: Suspects Openly Sell ‘Sextortion’ Guides on Social Media as Number of Child Victims Spikes

Suspected criminals are selling “sextortion” guides on social media as children and teenagers increasingly fall prey to sexual blackmail schemes, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) reported Tuesday.

The guides teach would-be scammers how to masquerade online as young women and hoodwink a victim into sending sexually explicit content, which the suspects would then use to blackmail the victim, the report revealed. The guides also show how to set up untraceable phone numbers, create fake social media accounts and use secure payment platforms.

One of the alleged contributors to the guide boasted his victim paid him “every Friday,” the report showed.

There has been a spike in child and teenage victims of sextortion — a “massive threat” to children, as the intelligence professional and sextortion expert Paul Raffile put it — according to the report. It marked a shift from adult victims to much younger, mostly male victims in particular, Raffile reportedly added.

One such young male victim reportedly parted with £100 (about $127) to alleged sextortion suspects who blackmailed him with a fake picture. He opened up to his parents, with whose help he then shut down his social media account, escaping further harm, according to the report.