This week, the Des Moines Police Department issued a warning to residents about a ‘Sextortion’ scam:
“Financially Motivated Sextortion has become very common in the past couple of years and the FBI has received thousands of complaints. Typically, an international subject pretends to be a young attractive female online and convinces or coerces the victim to send nude pictures. Sometimes, they create deep fake photos with real pictures of the victim. Once the subject has the pictures/videos, they threaten to send the pictures/videos to the victim’s friends/family if the victim doesn’t send them money.
What to do if this happens to you or a friend:
• REMEMBER, the blackmailer is to blame, not you. Even if you made a choice you regret, what they are doing is a crime.
• STOP responding. Get help instead of paying money or otherwise complying with the blackmailer. Cooperating or paying rarely stops the blackmail. In fact, cooperating or paying is likely to encourage the blackmailer to seek more.
• ASK for help. Don’t go through it alone. The problems can be very complex and require help from adults or professionals. You can get support from:
– The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at [email protected] or 1-800-THE-LOST.
– Text “THORN” to 741741 to speak confidentially with a trained counselor.
– If you feel like harming yourself, call 988 for help.
• BLOCK the suspect but DO NOT DELETE your profile or messages because that can be helpful in stopping the blackmailer.
• SAVE screenshots of the blackmailer’s accounts, user IDs and messages with them to provide to law enforcement.
• REPORT the account via the platform’s safety feature. Common ones include:
– Instagram: https://help.instagram.com/192435014247952
– SnapChat: https://values.snap.com/safety/safety-reporting
– Google/Gmail: https://support.google.com/groups/answer/81275?hl=en
• PREVENT the image or video being shared.
– If you’re under 18, you can use takeitdown.ncmec.org – a free online tool that prevents your image or video being shared on platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Yubo, OnlyFans and Pornhub.
– If you’re 18 or older, you can use StopNCII.org – a free online tool that prevents your image or video being shared on platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Bumble, OnlyFans and Reddit.”
