BE AWARE & ALERT
This crime is on the rise
In the summer of this year, I was asked to be a guest presenter on Crimewatch. My topic ‘sextortion’.
Talking about the rise of this internet crime, it dawned on me that this in fact is another ploy to publicly embarrass, victimize and cause destructive stress to victims by using sexual images or videos, but with an added financial gain.
This is the crime that involves extorting money or holding someone to ransom for financial gain. If your not careful you could easily become a victim! Victims are often caught out by surprise, they think they have befriended someone genuine through social media. This could be via Facebook, or any social media platform. Victims are usually caught out after a brief conversation or after building a very brief but sexual relationship with someone they think is real. Then when the victim feels comfortable they are coaxed to either talk via a webcam using an online gateway or by using another form of webcam device such as Skype.
I interviewed, Wayne from Scam Survivors on Crimewatch.
Wayne has an interest in online scams/scammers and works on a voluntary basis to help victims get rid of the scammers who have tried to extort them for financial gain. Many scammers are successful and there are victims that have reached the ‘pit of despair’ and have committed suicide. Wayne explained how scammers can pretend to be female or a male, they appear to look like a real person whilst using an online camera, but in fact on many occasions its a computer generated image that is controlled by the scammer using software.
There are many online crimes but there is a rise in online sexual exploited crimes like ‘Revenge Porn’ and ‘Sextortion’. If you have fallen victim of this crime. don’t panic, help is out there and your not alone. Contact Scam Survivors they provide a free, impartial service for victims of sextortion. You can make contact by clicking on there logo: 