DETROIT, Mich., (WPBN/WGTU) -- The Homeland Security Investigations Detroit Field Office is issuing an alert for the public about an increase in sextortion cases.
Sextortion refers to when a person is threatened or blackmailed into providing sexual imagery to a predator, in order to avoid said sexual imagery from being leaked publicly.
HSI noted that predators typically target children and young adults in sextortion cases.
“These heinous crimes are affecting our children at such a vulnerable time during their lives,” said HSI Detroit Special Agent Angie Salazar.
"Our agents and law enforcement partners are committed to fighting this epidemic of exploitation and protecting our communities from predators, wherever they may hide," Salazar said.
Below are common tactics the HSI Detroit Field Office said predators use in sextortion cases:
- Developing a false rapport with the victim
- Secretly recording explicit videos and messages during chats
- Using multiple identities to contact the child
- Pretending to be younger or a member of the opposite sex
- Hacking accounts to steal sexual images
- Threatening to commit suicide if the victim refuses to send images
- Visiting public social media profiles to find out more about the victim, including accessing the victim’s friend list and searching for other personal information that may harm their victim’s reputation
Anyone who believes they are someone they know is a victim of sextortion, they can help HSI in stopping harassment, arresting predators and even removing explicit online images, by taking the following steps:
- Reporting sextortion, before it happens to someone else. One sextortion CyberTip helped HSI identify and help 30 victims. If someone threatens to share explicit images of you, they’re likely also threatening friends or others you know
- Saving all conversations, chats or messages between the predator and the victim
- Refusing to pay or send more images (providing payment or more images actually makes things worse)
If someone threatens to share naked images of you, HSI said there’s help and a way out. Do not delete conversations, chats or messages that could help us catch and punish the criminals who did this to you. Call our tipline at 866-347-2423 and our partner at missingkids.org.