Inside sextortion 'call centres' luring kids to send naked pics online
A YOUNG boy sits on his phone late at night when a ping alerts him to a new message in his Instagram inbox - opening it, he sees a photo of a stunning brunette who wants to chat.
They strike up a conversation and talk for hours, but he has no idea that the person on the other end of the phone is not really an attractive woman but a man thousands of miles away in Nigeria. Scammers are using AI images to pretend to be women and trick men into sending naked images online in sextortion schemes Credit: Supplied Sextortion victim Murray Dowey was just 16 when he took his own life in December 2023 Credit: ITV Conversation between a cybercriminal and a potential victim shows how AI can be used to catfish victims Credit: Not known, clear with picture desk Teenager Jordan DeMay took his own life after being targeted by scammers on Instagram Credit: DeMay Family
This skilled catfisher - one of many contacting unsuspecting Brits -spends time building up a connection with the victim before encouraging him to send sexual images in cruel sextortion schemes.
When the scammer has the victim - who they normally snare online via dating apps or social media - they are bombarded with threatening messages and blackmailed for money to stop the images being posted online.
For some vicitms, the torment has becomes too much.
At least 20 people are believed to have died by suicide after having their lives ruined by sextortion scammers like these, according to the FBI.
And experts fear the numbers will continue to rise if more is not done to target vile gangs preying on British men and boys as young as eleven.
Several gangs are now believed to be targeting victims on TikTok and Instagram, then brazenly flaunting their cash from sick scams.
Pictures showed convicted fraudster Ramon Abbas, who started life as a Yahoo Boy, posing with private jets and super cars - while others flashed designer watches.
They work in a call centre type of environment, targeting thousands of people a day. It's their day job. Amanda Dashwood,
These sick sextortion rings even use these images and videos to attract recruits, training them on how to destroy people's lives for cash.
The gangs are now operating on such a large scale that they have set up sick 'call centres' to scam thousands of victims every day.
Amanda Dashwood, who supports victims of intimate image abuse via a government-funded helpline, told The Sun: "They tend to be based in the Philippines or Western Africa.
"They're the hotspots for this and they work in a call centre type of environment, targeting thousands of people a day. It's their day job.
Last week, it was reported that the FBI cracked down on a sophisticated network of scammers in Nigeria who operate on TikTok. Pals of sextortion victim targeted by scammers- ITV
They call themselves the "BM Boys" - with BM standing for blackmail - and hundreds of men in West Africa participated in the scheme.
Explaining how these sick scammers work, Amanda says: "What generally happens is that two people meet online, over social media or a dating website.
"And the blackmailers will catfish - they pretend to be a stereotypically attractive young woman. They are very good at what they do.
"They are very skilled, they will spend some time trying to build a connection and trust. They will convince people to share sexually explicit images or perform a sexually explicit act on a webcam."
It's at this point that the tone of the conversation takes a terrifying turn - the blackmailer ominously starts by saying, "I'm going to ruin your life" and then bombards the victim with threats.
Amanda said the best thing for the victim to do is to stop contact and block the blackmailer as soon as possible.
She adds: "When they realise they won't get any money, they get bored and give up quickly.
"But often it works - people send them huge amounts of money. Sometimes, they put really nasty accusations in their threats, saying they'll tell people the victim thought they were speaking to a child.
"If contact has gone on for a long time, sometimes they ramp up the threat level and send images to a few people.
"They will find their friends and family on social media and send screenshots of their profiles [to the victim]. They will ask for large sums of money or they will send [the relatives] the images.
"If the person is blocked straight away, it is incredibly rare that the content is shared because they don't get anything out of it."
She says that sometimes the blackmailer will create a vile collage out of the sexual images, with personal details of the victim over it.
She adds: "It's really scary for people and it has a really awful effect on lots of people - lots of people have taken their lives because in that moment they've been totally overwhelmed and not seen a way out."
In 2023, Scottish teen Murray Dowey, 16, was contacted online by someone posing as a young woman who claimed to be keen to strike up a friendship.
The schoolboy was tricked into sending an intimate image before it was used to blackmail him.
Murray, of Dunblane, Perthshire, tragically died by suicide just hours later.
His devastated family said their 'whole world has been shattered' as they warned other children about the dangers of the internet.
In a similar tragedy in 2022, 17-year-old Jordan DeMay took his own life after being targeted by a criminal gang online.
Three Nigerian men posed as a teenage girl on Instagram, luring the teenager into sending intimate photographs. Yahoo boys showing off their designer watches Credit: Supplied Ramon Abbas is one scammer seen flaunting his lavish lifestyle online Credit: Richard Rayner He would boast about his supercars and flights in private jets after fleecing victims Credit: Richard Rayner Messages above show how others are recruited into the sick gangs and trained to scam victims Credit: Supplied
The men - two of which are now serving sentences for their part in scheme - blackmailed him before he tragically killed himself six hours later.
Amanda, who works for the Revenge Porn Helpline which helps victims get intimate images removed from the internet, says while revenge porn victims tend to be women, when it comes to sextortion it is mainly men being targeted.
She says: "When a guy calls us and they've just received this threat, it's full-on panic.
"It's 'oh my god they've sent me this image and they said they will share it with all my friends and family if I don't give them a grand'. It's shock, panic.
"On the other side of the scale, there are people calling us who had the image shared a few years ago and they're still struggling to take it down - the desperation is really there."
Amanda said it is generally men between the ages of 18 and 35 who are targeted, but it happens to children as well.
"Young boys are being targeted in this way. We deal with adults, and what we see is that it's always financially motivated.
"With children, there is a financial aspect; children are being asked for £5 gift cards which just seems so cruel and so horrible. But the threats with children goes into more the grooming side of things."
Part of the helpline's job is working to get images removed if they have been shared without a victim's consent.
While the Revenge Porn Helpline has a 90 per cent success rate, in some cases - when the website has been set up for solely for that purpose - it gets much harder.
'Sextortion' is a type of online blackmail. It's when criminals threaten to share sexual pictures, videos, or information about you unless you pay money or do something else you don't want to.
Anyone can be a victim of sextortion. However, young people aged between 15 to 17, and adults aged under 30, are often most at risk.
Criminals often target people through dating apps, social media, webcams, or pornography sites. They may use a fake identity to befriend you online. If a person you've just met online chats to you in a sexual way, or asks for sexual images, it might be an attempt at sextortion.
You should be wary if someone you've met online: is trying to start a relationship with you very quickly (they may even send you a sexual image first)
chats to you in a sexual way, or asks for sexual images, soon after you've met them.
has sent friend requests to lots of people, not just you
repeatedly asks you to do sexual things that you're not comfortable with
tells you they've hacked your account or have access to your contacts
Sextortion attempts can happen very quickly, or they can happen over a long time. You should never share sexual images or information about yourself if you are not comfortable.
You can still be a victim of sextortion if you haven't shared sexual images or information. Criminals may have hacked one of your accounts, or created edited or fake images or videos, like deepfakes, of you that appear real.
Even if blackmail isn't involved, sharing or threatening to share intimate photos or videos of you without your permission is illegal. This is called 'revenge porn' or intimate image abuse.
From the Met Police website
"It can be really difficult to get images removed and there are cases we've been dealing with since the helpline opened.
"There are hundreds of thousands of [copies] of the content, we're never really going to get rid of it all.
"We will usually - with their permission - do a reverse image search or use facial recognition to see where else the image has been uploaded to build up a list of all the websites where the content has been shared.
"We then contact each of the websites one by one to say it was taken illegally and ask for it to be taken down. Most websites will respond and do what we say.
"Some don't. Some - there are a lot of websites that exist with the full intention of what they are doing. In that case, we will contact the hosting provider and will try a few times - but 10 per cent of the content never gets taken down.
"So in that case, we tell the client that they can submit a privacy complaint to Google to stop the content from coming up in a search if it's attached to their name."
As with all types of sexual offences, there is a massive aspect of victim-blaming in intimate image abuse.
Clients who called the helpline said police asked them why they took the picture in the first place.
Amanda says: "It's so sad. With any type of sexual violence, there is always this shame and guilt and it's really perpetuated by society. It's really horrible.
"It's so important to remind them that they haven't done anything wrong, they've had their trust broken."
She urged anyone who is a victim to get in touch with the helpline, which is government-funded and free to use.
If you are affected by any of the issues raised in this article, please call the Samaritans for free on 116123. Jordan DeMay was threatened with having his private pictures shared with family in a 'sextortion scam' Credit: vsco.co/@jordandemay Pictured are Ros and Mark, Murray Dowey's parents who fear other children could become victims Credit: ITV
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