Sextortion: An Increasing Risk for Youth in the Digital Age
Parents are increasingly approaching mental health professionals seeking guidance and advice about their children’s social media use. Their concern is understandable. Even as youth spend more and more time immersed in the digital world, the potential dangers they face there continue to evolve and adapt.
Sexual extortion—sextortion—is an example of a new way to commit crime that targets the online generation. According to the FBI, since 2021, there has been a tenfold increase in the number of cases involving children and teens being threatened and coerced into sending explicit images online—and more than a dozen related deaths by suicide. Cases of sextortion have also been reported globally, with criminal bands focusing their efforts in wealthy countries with easy access to electronic devices such as the United States. The Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire has documented that perpetrators often use scripted tactics to exert intense pressure on young minds, moving quickly from initial contact to severe threats to maximize their gains before victims can seek help.
‘What the Hell Do I Do?’
A recent example of sextortion is the 2022 case of 17-year-old Jordan DeMay. According to ABC News, “after the Upper Peninsula Michigan high school homecoming king received a message from an Instagram account that appeared to be a teenage girl, he wound up going down a dark road that within only six hours would end with him taking his own life.” More recently, the parents of Murray Dowey, a 16-year-old from Dunblane, Scotland, who died by suicide last December after falling victim to a sextortion scheme, told The Guardian: “We were six feet away when this was happening. He just needed to come through to our bedroom. So, it’s about putting the phone down, walking away, saying to someone else, ‘This has happened, what the hell do I do?’ Murray didn’t do that, and we lost him.”
According to The Guardian, in August 2023, two Nigerian men were extradited to the United States to face charges relating to online extortion, including their part in Jordan DeMay’s death. Criminal investigations have found that these groups operate remotely, in places where poverty and unemployment have made this an appealing alternative for tech-savvy young people who have adapted their tactics with the evolution of technology. They can now easily mimic and interact as native English speakers, for example, with the help of artificial intelligence. These criminals have also learned to target multiple victims in the same community or school to make victims believe that the perpetrator is someone they know.
The downstream effects on mental health are immediate. Victims can experience fear and anxiety due to the criminals’ escalating demands. The associated stigma can cause them to withdraw from social support due to feelings of shame and guilt, limiting their capacity to seek help.
Collaboration and Partnerships
To prevent future cases and mitigate some of the mental health impacts of sextortion, mental health providers have an important role to play in identifying adolescents who may be at risk, supporting victims in their recovery, and educating children and their families about safe online behaviors. It is critical to learn to recognize potential threats and provide tools and resources for parents to communicate effectively with their children about online safety.
Because of the international quality of sextortion, these efforts cannot happen in isolation. Multidisciplinary collaboration is essential for addressing the causes and effects of digital crimes, while policymakers and stakeholders at every level need to advocate for legislation that protects children from online exploitation and its deleterious mental health effects. Creating such initiatives requires partnerships between mental health professionals, law enforcement agencies, and technology companies.
In the digital era, learning about the environment in which many youths learn, socialize, and have fun must be incorporated into psychiatric education and practice. The threats are not stopping, and neither can we. ■
Acknowledgment: This content has been created by the author, who used GTPzero and Copyleaks to copyedit his work.
Resources
These resources can provide critical support and assistance to victims of sextortion and their families.
Crisis Text Line: text “HELLO” to 741741 for free, 24/7 support
Biographies
German Velez, M.D., is a fellow in child and adolescent psychiatry and chief fellow for community and public psychiatry at New York-Presbyterian (Columbia/Cornell).
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Published online: 27 August 2024
Published in print: September 1, 2024 – September 30, 2024
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