GROWING THREAT OF SEXTORTION FROM CYBER-PREDATORS
In March 2013, on a beautiful day Cassidy Marie Wolf, a 16-year-old American model and a beauty queen just crowned Miss Teen USA was leaning in her bedroom and gazing at her computer when an email popped up that contained a dozen naked pictures of her in her bedroom
The sender of the mail demanded that Ms Wolf either transmit few good quality nude pictures of her through Snapchat, or send a video of herself, or appear on Skype to perform as he tells her for 5 minutes. It horrified Wolf. Wolf never created the video that the attacker kept demanding from her. It turns out that she had a laptop in her bedroom, as most students do. Whenever Cassidy stepped out of her bathroom and towelled off after the shower, the computer in her room which had been hacked and whose camera was under the hacker’s control would start taking her nude pictures. Stunned by the email, Ms Wolf slammed her laptop shut and informed her parents, who called in the FBI. An international crackdown by the FBI and police in 19 countries brought over 90 arrests in a severe onslaught against ‘creepware’.
In November 2013, Jared Abrahams, a high school classmate of Ms Wolf, who had watched and ogled at Wolf for more than a year by installing the highly intrusive malware Blackshades on her computer to take nude images and videos of her pleaded guilty to hacking over 100-150 women. One of his victims was a 14-year-old girl. The two-year operation that FBI organised was such that the suspects didn’t have time to demolish evidence, and it included the arrest of Swedish hacker Alex Yucel, a co-creator of Blackshades, the cheap and accessible software utilised to hijack computers remotely. In November 2013, Jared Abrahams pleaded guilty to hacking over 100-150 women by installing the malware Blackshades on their computers. On March 18, 2014; Court sentenced Abrahams to 18 months in Federal prison.
Likewise, one beautiful day Rahul Bhogle from Pune receives a friend request from a gorgeous and stunning girl. Soon they chat on Facebook, and their friendship evolves into an intimate relationship within no time. After some time, the girl requests Ramesh to switch over to Skype from a Facebook messenger. One night during the Skype chat, the pretty girl confides to Rahul that she is feeling horny and starts stripping her skimpy clothes and suggests Rahul do the same. Rahul gets excited and aroused and he strips and starts climaxing in front of the camera. Meanwhile, the pretty girl vanishes from the screen and transmits a Skype message to Rahul informing him that she has a recording of his strip show and demands that he transfer a lakh rupees to her account failing which she would transmit his video to all his friends on the Facebook page.
Blackmail of this type by cyber-predators is being defined as “Sextortion”, and anecdotal evidence to date shows that sextortion is on the surge. Sextortion is identical to online blackmail scams, except that instead of demanding money, the blackmailer demands the victim to engage in sex acts, or pose for nude pictures or masturbate in before a webcam. The Cambridge Dictionary defines sextortion as “the practice of compelling somebody to do something, particularly to perform sexual acts, by threatening to publish naked pictures of them or sexual information about them.” Social media and text messages are frequently the source of the sexual material and the threatened means of sharing it with others. An example of this sextortion is where people get blackmailed with a naked picture of themselves they shared on the Internet through Sexting. They later get intimidated into performing sexual acts or get compelled to pose or perform sexually on camera, thus generating hardcore pornography. This strategy of blackmail is often being used to out LGBT people who hide their actual sexual orientation.
Sexual extortion is an alarming and inhuman crime that feeds off victims’ remorse. Sextortonists also hack into victims’ computers, excavate sensitive material, like photographs and videos, and threaten to expose their victims if they decline to fulfil their orders. Digital devices, email accounts, and social media accounts today contain the most intimate details of our daily lives, and the impact that hacking and extortion can have on us is, distressing, and disturbing, Sextortion could prove devastating for the victims – particularly the susceptible victims who may conclude that they can’t restore and rebuild their tarnished reputations,” Fortunately, Ms Wolf could complain to her parents who notified the FBI. The FBI investigation could track it back to her classmate. But there are other anecdotes where young people were likewise sextorted or enticed to exhibit their breasts or private parts to paedophiles much older than themselves across continents resulting in devastating consequences. Some of them even committed suicide.
For instance, a 15-year-old Canadian student, Amanda Michelle Todd, hung herself at her home in Port Coquitlam, a city in the province of British Columbia, Canada. It turns out that Amanda a few years ago was chatting with a stranger she met online, a man who impressed and praised her. At his request, she flashed him. The man took a snapshot of her breasts. He then continued to pursue Todd on the Internet for years. He implored her to put on another show for him, but she declined. After a year, the same stranger reached out to her on Facebook threatening to go public with a topless photo of her if Amanda refused to perform a live sex show for him on camera. When she spurned him, the man sent her topless photo “to everyone.” Amanda became incredibly depressed and miserable. Incapable of weathering the embarrassment and shame she took to alcohol and drugs and ultimately committed suicide.
Many people use webcams for flirting and cybersex – but occasionally people we meet on the internet aren’t who they confide they are. A cyber-predator often befriends victims online masquerading as an attractive person by wielding a fake identity and convinces them to perform sexual acts in front of their webcam, usually by using a beautiful woman to lure the victim into taking part primarily by coercing these women with monetary inducements or threats. Some cyber predators prompt sexual communication by showing the victim a pre-recorded video of a performer from a cybersex webcam site which they are adequately familiar with, then they message the victim at junctures in the video where the performer appears to type on the keyboard, to lend the misconception that the performer in the video is messaging them. The cyber-predators urge the victim to undress in front of a webcam and may also entice them to engage in sexual behaviours, such as masturbation. These webcam videos recorded by the cyber-predators come in handy for Sextortion. Cyber-predators may threaten to publish the video in video services like YouTube publicly or transmit it to family members and friends of the victim if they do not conform. This makes some victims feel extremely ashamed and embarrassed and, some even tragically, end their lives. There is evidence that some organised crime groups could be behind this crime. For them, it’s a low-risk means to earn money, and they can reach many victims easily online. Victims are often concerned about reporting these offences to the police because it embarrasses them.
Gaming platforms are also being used by Sextortionists to lure teenagers. When a teenager plays an online game, at some juncture, the teenager would need cash online to pass to the next level. During such times, the sex-predator offers to help him in return for provocative pictures of him. After the teenager transmits the image, the sex predator blackmails him with the posted picture.
We have seen that Sextortion takes on different forms, but at its core, its primary intent is to threaten to reveal sexual images to compel a person to do something. These dangers come from both strangers met online and once romantic partners who intend to harass, embarrass, and control victims.
Sextortion happens to the extent of 54 percent on social networking platforms like Facebook, Instagram, up to 41 percent on photo messaging or messaging apps such as WhatsApp, Snapchat, on email it happens up to 12 percent, on dating platforms up to 9 percent, and rest of it in video sharing platforms and gaming platforms.
For Sextortion, Cyber predators target minors because of their innocence. 71 percent of the victims of Sextortion are victims under the age of 18, 14 percent involved a mix of adults and minors, and 12 percent involved only adults. Almost all adult victims are females. 78 percent of all incidents of extortion involved female children, with male children accounting for 12 percent. Reports reveal that 20 percent of teens, 22 percent of teen girls, 11 percent of teen girls between ages 13-16 have sent or posted nude or semi-nude pictures to someone they knew only online.
To avoid being sextorted, we should never send compromising materials to anyone, turn off the computer when not using it, cover the webcam when not using it, download no unknown apps or programs, never click on links from strangers on email and social networking sites, never interact with strangers on a video call, don’t accept friend requests and don’t believe the profiles as they can create fake profiles. All Sextortion victims should speak about what happened and contact the police; they should stop complying to the demands of the sex predators; they should not delete any data. They may also unfriend and block any account on social media with which they connect to the criminals and shut off their accounts for a while.
Sextortion is becoming more extensive, fuelled by the swell of broadband Internet connections and smartphones. A 2016 US Department of Justice report affirms that sextortion is on the rise and is, “by far the most significantly growing threat to children,” and that “sextortion cases have more minor victims per offender than all other child sexual exploitation offences.” We are yet to deter the cybersecurity structure of our nation from deterring such offences, and there is no specific law to deal with the manifestation in our country yet. At present cases for such offences can are being booked under extortion, POCSO Act in case of children and section 67 of the IT act.
Until now, the cyber-predators wielded brutal force to recruit their victims, but now this impetus has shifted to intelligent manipulation and persuasive ploys, precocious marketing and management strategies and outstanding informatics abilities. We have become very susceptible because we are not conscious of the hazards present online. We post without thought without safeguarding ourselves, without being mindful of what data we share and how the predators can access and utilise that information against us. We accept friend requests from people we don’t know; We share confidential information with them; We mail photos and videos; We install all manners of apps with no thought or idea that we are making ourselves a perfect target.
Finally, survivors of sextortion are victims of a silent holocaust, a holocaust of the soul. The victims of sextortion experience a loss of meaning, and several victims like Amanda contemplate and commit suicide. During such times, spiritual beliefs and practices can help create meaning and help them gain courage and insight from their sextortion experiences. Spiritual practices under such circumstances would also go a long way in helping them reframe their difficult times and negative experiences as valuable lessons and opportunities for personal growth.
Source from: epaper/deccanchronicle/chennai/dt:20.01.2020
Dr.K. Jayanth Murali is an IPS Officer belonging to 1991 batch. He is borne on Tamil Nadu cadre. He lives with his family in Chennai, India. He is currently serving the Government of Tamil Nadu as Additional Director General of Police, Law and Order.
