Most Sweetheart/Romance Scams which target the elderly don't end up with the victim being an international drug-mule but, with money being sent to the scammers. There are multiple other types of scams which go after elderly (trusting victims). But, increasingly young "disaffected" men are falling victim to romance scams in which they send pictures of their genitals and or videos of themselves masturbating to scammers.
I've taken numerous reports from embarrassed young men who tell me they're being blackmailed by these scammers after sending them "incriminating" pics/videos. It's always the same basic MO, as the youth somehow makes contact with someone purporting to be a sexy single lady and I always have to break the bad news that a) it wasn't, and b) I can't help them get their images back or stop them from being disseminated. And if they've paid money well that's gone too and that won't stop the blackmail.
According to a report by the Network Contagion Research Institute,
Financial sextortion is the fastest growing crime targeting children in North America and Australia—accelerating at an alarming rate, with incidents surging up 1,000% in the past 18 months. In a December 2023 hearing, FBI Director Wray warned Congress that sextortion is “a rapidly escalating threat,” and teenage victims “don’t know where to turn.”
Cybercriminals are using fake social media accounts to coerce victims, almost all of them boys, into sharing an explicit photo. As soon as the criminal receives the photo, they threaten to (and sometimes do) expose the photo to the victim’s friends, family, and followers unless a ransom is paid. These criminals employ ruthless tactics to intimidate their victims, inflicting lasting trauma and immense distress–which has led to more than 21 youth suicides.
Apparently, the leading group is a West African cybercriminal gang called the Yahoo Boys. If that's really the name the group choose I'm either disappointed at their inanity or impressed that Yahoo.com continues to this day to have a lasting impact on our on-line world. I suppose Sextortion is an update on the Nigeria Prince email scam of the 1990's.
But, the question is how do you stop/control/minimize these young men from sharing pictures of themselves on the Internet? As soon as cell phones added cameras, Dic Pics became the go to move of horny young men looking for sex/companionship replacing the drive-by hootin' and hollerin', and on street catcalls. In fact, dick pics, death threats, and crypto cons seem increasingly to be all the Internet is used for.
I'm not going to minimize the toll this takes on the victims who suffer embarrassment and financial loss. Illinois residents lost a combined $267 million to internet based crimes and scams in 2022. There are several CyberHeroes battling back against these scammers, Kitboga and Scammer Payback for instance. But, it is fascinating that this crime is being done by the descendants of the colonized, in places like Jamaica, West Africa, or Mumbai India against their former erstwhile Colonizers. So, we could perhaps just chalk this up to Reparations but, a better plan would be mandatory education highlighting these new scams, while employing and empowering teams of Anti-Scammers, while stressing the old wisdom of if it sounds to good to be true it probably is...
