The Justice Department and FBI warned parents of a dramatic increase in "sextortion" schemes mainly targeting teenage boys on social media, CNN reports. Federal law enforcement officials say at least 3,000 minors have been extorted, and they linked the internet scheme to at least a dozen suicides this year.
The DOJ says predators will use popular social media platforms to primarily target boys ages 14 to 17, though some victims have been as young as 10. The extortionists, who reportedly mainly originate from West African countries like Nigeria and the Ivory Coast, typically pretend to be girls to convince their targets to move to different platforms that primarily use direct messaging. They will solicit explicit pictures from the minor, which they later threaten to release to the victim's family and friends unless they send money. The perpetrators sometimes ask for thousands of dollars. The department says it remains unclear if the predators are operating in cells or individually.
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