It is evident to say that our generations have constantly been evolving as our technology has developed. With the advanced technology improvement, people are more likely to be exposed to various digital crime compared to the past. One of the well-known digital crimes is blackmailing, leading to cause severe consequences.
https://www.kaspersky.com/blog/beware_sextortion/5796/
What is Blackmailing?
Blackmail is an act of threatening to reveal or publicize true or false information about a person or people until the demands are met[2]. A blackmailer will threaten to publish an explicit private image online unless their demands are met[1]. They usually demand goods such as money, and anyone can be targeted.
Why is Sextortion a Problem?
Sextortion is an emerging type of blackmail/extortion that frequently happens on online. It appears to be a severe worldwide problem since overall internet usage has increased during the pandemic. Being exposed to the internet has a much greater chance for people to enter unidentified websites. Once clicking these types of websites, the devices will be hacked, possibly leaking one’s private information to those who take advantage of others’ precious personal data.
Many cases of sextortion happen on a dating website[1]. A scammer attempts to gain the victim’s trust first. As they earn the victim’s trust, they ask for explicit photos or videos. With the pictures or videos received, they threaten victims in order to achieve what they want (mostly money)[1].
Another method of obtaining victim’s personal information is hacking victim’s webcam and recording any explicit videos of them[3]. This is done by hacking into security systems and gaining access to the victim’s webcam/devices. This is a serious problem because even though our devices/webcam have been hacked, we would not realize that we had been hacked, and it would be too late when being aware of it and trying to fix the problem.
https://phys.org/news/2016-05-sextortion-cyber-crime-common.html
Who are at risks?
Anyone can be a victim of sextortion. A survey has been conducted with 2,006 participants. Of male respondents, 4.5% have experienced sextortion since the pandemic started, while women respondents are 2.3%[1]. Furthermore, the age groups have been said that more than 5% of respondents ages 18 to 29 have been victims of sextortion, while 4% are aged 30 to 40 years. Lastly, 3% are aged 41 to 64 years[1].
Preventions/Solutions?
Since hackers are not generous, they will look for any victim, regardless of their age, gender, and status. Not even guaranteeing that children can be victims as they are exposed to social media from a young age. However, to both adults and children, being educated will help them not become the victims of this terrible crime.
- Do not send any form of sexual photo/video[2]
- Do not enter unauthorized sites nor open suspicious emails[2]
- Do not share any personal information with others[2]
- Change your passwords every once in a while
- Cover your webcam cameras
If you have been chosen as a victim, what can you do?
- Report to Cybertip.ca or contact police[4]
- Stop all communication[4]
- Record your evidences[4]
- Do not comply with the threat[4]
Reference
[2]:https://www.itperfection.com/network-security/blackmail-cybersecurity-security-extortionemail/
[3]:https://www.welivesecurity.com/2020/09/18/five-cybercriminals-extortion-schemes/
[4]:https://globalnews.ca/news/7777262/sextortion-cybertip-youth-crime-teen-offenders-nudes-blackmail/
Thanks for talking about this topic. It is indeed hard to prevent these types of incidents from happening because almost everyone is on social media theses days. It is easy for hackers to make a false identity online and trick people into sending their pictures. I believe their is a high percentage of teens to be a victim of sextortion because they are immature and still learning. These days it is really hard to keep the teen generation away from their mobile phones. You also stated the exact percentages in your blog. Even if we do not send private photos, their is a chance hackers have access to your cameras. To be honest I never cover my laptop camera but after reading your blog I am more aware of the risks. Thank you for the information and great blog!
I wonder about the extent to which this issue can be solved through cybersecurity means as opposed to cultural ones. It seems only natural that as the internet continues to develop into a place for these types of sexual exchanges (which may happen on elicit sites, webchatting sites like omegle, or even social media like reddit), posting or giving out such pictures will become somewhat normalized. And since the internet has always been a place for talking to strangers and otherwise doing things that wouldn’t be smart in real life. Beyond informing users of the risks and encouraging them not to be too trusting of strangers, I don’t know that there’s a solution to people willingly sending pictures to a stranger and being unfortunate enough to encounter a bad person.
Interesting read! It’s crazy how exposed we are to dangers such as blackmail as you stated in your post. I also find it very interesting how males seem to be more of a target than females but as you said anyone can be a target of this. I think that this is a great post to inform any individuals about the dangers of sextortion, and it is a great addition to add a few tips on how to prevent these kinds of situations.
Interestingly enough I was once on the receiving end of a really poorly done phishing scam that attempted to “sextort” me (lol). First off, I knew it wasn’t legitimate since I keep my webcam cover on at all times I am not using it.
But more importantly, I didn’t really view it as a threat. Like Filip mentioned above, it can only be used to blackmail you if you allow it to. This reminds me of a podcast I listened to where someone who worked for a government agency said they had to answer extremely personal questions about themselves before being granted the job. While the answer itself was not of concern, the ability for someone to blackmail you was a major concern. I wonder if any particular demographics are more susceptible to this sort of attack.
This was a really intersting post. It’s very unfortunate that even if you actively chose to not send explicit photos or videos there is still a chance for you to get blackmailed. It also seems that societly when it comes to sex related crimes a lot of victim blaming happens. Hopefully, we as a society can grow past this point and instead help them and support them. As we continue to use and rely on technology more education on should be provided as more and more attack methods get developed.
Really fascinating read! It’s really great that you decided to cover this since it really needs more exposure. Everybody knows about catfishes online, and that it’s really creepy. But, aside from the creepiness, it’s not usually mentioned what happens if they can get a hold of explicit photos or videos.
Also, I found it quite interesting that males experience sextortion at a rate almost double that of females. I have a feeling that it has something to do with males being more h**ny on the internet.
Wow, what an interesting post. I have heard about sextortion before but I had no clue that it was becoming such a big problem, especially after the pandemic. It does make sense though since we’ve been mostly spending our time online during this pandemic. Those statistics that you mentioned definitely opened my eyes to this, especially the statistic 5% of the victims are aged between 18-29. You would expect the younger generation to be more aware of such stuff and be more cautious, which is why that was surprising. The worst part is that they can even hack into webcams. Just the thought of someone possibly watching you while you are on your laptop is eerie. I still don’t cover my laptop camera with tape or anything but, to be honest, after what I’ve learned from this class and post, I think I might have to, just to be safe.
To be honest, I think covering your webcam at all times can be difficult since almost all devices have built-in cameras. However, I think most cases of sextortion are pronounced with individuals themselves when they post their content online or send it to someone who is untrustworthy. People should be more aware of the leverage they give to another person by sending something private because it can be easily used against you. More education on the impact of online photo sharing should be part of the curriculum so that people can be aware of the impending consequences. Finally, I think there should be further legal support for victims who are sextorted and legal actions for websites that host such contents
Day by day, people are getting smarter. But that doesn’t necessarily mean a good thing. People are using their learned knowledge, to join illegal activities one such example is sextortion as described in this post. It has become vital for everyone to know how to stay safe from becoming a victim of such situations. I think government should include such courses in schools and colleges and advertise such issues. As we all know, personal pictures and videos can now be sent within a second from one person to another and most of the time, we send such materials to the people we trust. However, trusting someone whom we have only met online with explicit photos can make things much worse. Moreover on the issue of covering web-cameras, I can totally understand how it can help on a desktop or laptops but what about smart phones? According to me, precaution and education about sextortion is the only way to reduce such cases to happening in the future.
Hey, great post showing awareness on this serious matter.
I understand the dangers of sextortion in the digital world, but it is still very much a threat in the physical world. I’ve been watching documentaries regarding hidden cameras in hotel rooms in countries like South Korea (It’s crazy how well they hide those cameras). With this, people are put at risk even if they played it safe digitally, which really scares me. To make things worse, these criminals can even threaten the victims digitally and they cannot do anything about it.
Very informative article! There are also a lot of reports where people use discord servers to blackmail minors, and get them to send explicit photos. Now that a lot of more minors have access to the internet nowadays, how does one prevent them from falling victim to things like this?
This is an excellent piece that brings attention to an important subject.
Because some victims keep silent due to feelings of shame, guilt, embarrassment, and fear, the number of sextortion victims is likely to be higher than reported. I agree with Mika that a stronger, safer support structure is needed to assist and support victims. The blame and consequences need to be more focused on the perpetrator, rather than the victims.
Also, to answer Achraf’s question above, Men, Black and Native American women, and LGBTQ Individuals are often victims of Sextortion [1].
Not to mention, Sextortion is also more likely to occur in younger victims. The Canadian Centre for Child Protection observed an 88 percent increase in sextortion and online sexual exploitation of children because of the pandemic [2].
[1] https://www.openaccessgovernment.org/sextortion/128564/
[2] https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/child-sextortion-reports-on-the-rise-during-pandemic-national-tip-line-1.5302282
People are becoming smarter by the day. However, this isn’t always a good thing. Sextortion, as explained in this essay, is one example of people exploiting their newly acquired information to participate in unlawful acts. It is now critical for everyone to understand how to avoid being a victim of such scenarios. I believe that the government should incorporate such courses into schools and colleges, as well as publicise such topics. As we all know, personal photos and videos may now be shared from one person to another in a fraction of a second, and we usually send such materials to people we trust. Trusting someone we’ve only met online with graphic images, on the other hand, can make matters much worse.
Furthermore, on the topic of covering webcams, I can see how it might be beneficial on a desktop or laptop, but what about smart phones? Precaution and education regarding sextortion, in my opinion, is the only way to prevent such incidents from occurring in the future.
Thank you for this interesting post! It is sad to see that the sextortion numbers have increased over the pandemic, perhaps also due to the general trend of people spending more time online, on social media platforms and dating platforms. It, once again, really shows how we should always be very cautious in the online world, especially when talking to people we don’t know in the real world. Additionally covering your webcam is always a good thing to do, but perhaps not enough.
I am happy you brought up this topic as I think victims are often ashamed, but they should not be. It is important to spread awareness and show victims of sextortion that they are not alone and to furthermore provide them with good resources in the event of such an attack.
Very interesting post!
One of my best friends (a 20-year-old young woman) is interested in taking sexual photos of herself. She’s always worried about hackers would hack her laptop and steal those photos. Last week, she told me she bought a ROG Scar 17 gaming laptop from Bestbuy. I was very confused why she spent so much money to buy a ROG laptop, she only plays CSGO, Overwatch and LOL. Then, I learned that the reason why she bought a ROG Scar 17 is that ROG Scar 17 provides a “Keystone” security system: Without docking the keystone into the slot on that laptop, nobody can access the data stored in the shadow(private) storage. Once the keystone you hold is docked into the slot, then you can access the data stored in the shadow(private) storage. So, she puts her sexual photos into the shadow storage, and then she always securely holds the keystone without docking it into the slot if she doesn’t want to access those photos. I truly think it is the best way to protect her sexual photos from stealing by hackers.
The link to the website which introduces the “Keystone” security system on ROG laptops: https://www.asus.com/support/FAQ/1042940/
Good Post! It is concise and very informative. It is rather sad to see that the statistics regarding sextortion have increased during the pandemic, but it does make sense, with more people inside using their computers, more people are going to be sending sensitive content that gets used as blackmail (as you’ve mentioned). I’m sure that mostly everyone knows that sending sensitive information over the internet can land you in a tough spot regarding blackmail and that hackers can easily hijack your webcam, yet the statistics you provided show otherwise. I agree with the security tips you provided and I’m hoping that spreading awareness about them is going to help reduce the number of people who become victims of blackmail and sextortion.
Sextortion is here to stay as long as there’s someone who thinks they’re going to get something out of sending photos of themselves to some model they met online. Thankfully, by keeping a proper brain in your head, it becomes less of a problem. The best way to protect yourself is just by observing practices like what was written on this post. I would like to know more however about how the government can protect you, as I have often wondered to myself if someone jacked my webcam and threatened to ruin my public image unless I fork over cash if there would be anyone I could approach in order to protect myself. The improvements of deepfake technology makes this more and more a possibility even if I don’t send compromising photos of me.
Great post about this topic!