SWAN Hill police are warning about the dangers of sharing explicit images, as locals continue to be targeted by sextortion scams.
A sextortion scam occurs when a person is blackmailed, usually for money, after sending a sexually explicit photo of themselves to an unknown person.
The scams usually target young people.
More than half of people aged 14 to 18 reported sending sexual photos, according to a La Trobe University survey published in 2021.
Detective Senior Constable Ashleigh Johnson said the type of scam usually targeted young men.
“These scams usually occur on social media,” she said.
“The scammers will make contact with individuals, often 14 to 20-year-old males – it’s usually within that demographic, but not always.
“They will go through avenues like Snapchat, Instagram or Facebook, and make a quick add or a new friend request.
“Usually it’s a new account, and it’s someone the victim doesn’t know.
“They will use common female names, with AI or other generic internet photos that aren’t of themselves.
“These people will start a conversation with a victim, starting with general conversation before moving onto something of a sexual nature.”
Sen-Constable Johnson said that when a victim sends an image of themselves, the conversation quickly turns into threats of blackmail.
“The scammer will usually start to send the victim explicit images and encourage the victim to send back similar images,” she said.
“A lot of the time they request that the victim’s face is in the image and will threaten to send those images to the victim’s family and friends if their demands aren’t met.
“It can be quite easy for the scammers if their victim doesn’t have a locked-down profile.
“If they’ve got their friends list public, they can just look through for people with the same name as their victim.
“We find that when these individuals make their demands, it’s usually targeting the victim’s money.”
But the impacts to victims go much further than financial stress.
Sen-Constable Johnson said sending the money often didn’t stop the scam.
“It’s not only a financial impact, there’s also a massive mental impact that these scams have,” she said.
“If a victim does send through the money, the scammer will keep requesting more and more, and continue the threats and the demands.
“A lot of the time the victims are more embarrassed than anything, but it also puts pressure on them to have to tell someone about the scam.”
Sen-Constable Johnson said it was good to have a healthy amount of suspicion when added by someone you don’t recognise online.
“It’s good to have some suspicion if you receive a friend request or if you’re added by a person you do not know,” she said.
“People should consider if the individual’s picture doesn’t look like a real person, if they’ve got very few friends, posts or images on their profiles, or if the conversation quickly turns sexual.
“You can report these scams online through ReportCyber, or you can visit your local police station to report it as well.
“What we will need to assist in the investigation is the times and dates that the conversation had occurred, screenshots of the interactions, usernames and email addresses.
“If the individual has requested you send money to them you can give us their bank account details and the amount of money.
“We take these reports based on the information that we have from the victims, and then conduct an investigation from there.
“Unfortunately, a lot of the time these offenders are located overseas, but that doesn’t mean that people can’t come and report it to us.”
A naked or sexually explicit picture or video of a person under the age of 18 years is by legal definition child exploitation material and the making, transmission and possession of such images can result in serious criminal charges.
