In other instances, victims are encouraged to engage in explicit activity over video and the scammer secretly records the acts, FBI officials said. The scammers later attempt to extort money from victims by threatening to post the content online.
Scammers ask for payment via cash apps and even with gift cards, said Special Agent Barbara Smith, who supervises the child exploitation and human trafficking task force at the FBI Washington Field Office. But even after some victims pay, the victims continue to be extorted.
Smith said similar extortion schemes targeting men and boys have operated for years. But in the past six months, reports to the FBI out of the District and Northern Virginia increased from one report a month to two or three each week, she said in an interview Thursday.
“This has been going on for several years; what’s new is the frequency, and more children are falling victim to this scam,” Smith said. These financially motivated sextortion schemes that capture children are actually overshadowing the traditional child predator sextortion schemes that they have.”
Investigators say the suspected scammers are abroad and offenders may have hundreds of victims worldwide.
“We recognize victims may feel embarrassed and thus hesitant to come forward and report these incidents,” said Wayne Jacobs, special agent in charge of the Washington Field Office’s criminal/cyber division….
