“I have your nude pictures and everything I need to destroy your life.” Increasing danger to teenagers, how criminals act
The wave of scams targeting adolescents in the US and Europe is increasing. Young people are fooled to send intimate pictures, and then blackmail, under the threat that they will be made public, writes BBC.
“I have your nude pictures and everything I need to destroy your life.” This message was received on social networks by American Evan Boettler, from someone who believed a girl, but who was, in fact, a scam.
Just 90 minutes after receiving the first message, the 16-year-old teenager took his life.
“Sextortion” or sexual blackmail is one of the online crimes with the fastest growth. The victims, often adolescents from the US and Europe, are deceived to send intimate photos or videos, which the scams threaten to distribute public if they are not paid.
Evan Boettler's family was shocked by the boy's premature death. “When they finally told us that night that he died, it didn't make sense. I don't understand how this could happen to our family,” Kari, Evan's mother, said.
Almost two years later, the pain of the Boettler family is still alive, and the search for the answers resulted in frustration. Socializing platforms, such as Meta, refuse to disclose information without a court mandate, which the family does not yet have, despite the pressures exerted on the FBI.
Young people from Nigeria, behind the tricks
In the years that have passed since Evan's death, the authorities made few progress. There was, however, a crucial track: at one point, the scam requested Evan's Facebook connecting data, and when he used them, he left an IP address behind.
This digital fingerprint led the BBC journalists in several locations in Nigeria, most commonly in the most populated, Lagos.
There, they found out, from a young man who practices such scams, who is the mechanism.
“You create a girl account using fake names generated by a generator,” said Ola, a young man who deals with such scams. “It is a site where you can get names of people from the desired country.”
Once the profile is created, the hunt begins. The boys at the other end of the screen become nothing more than the usernames for scams who send messages to hundreds a day, hoping that one of them will send them money.
“I do not feel bad because I need money,” Ola replied when she is considering that she can destroy a life.
Ola could not believe that a British or American teenager could not pay. In his mind, the fact that they were born in the West automatically meant that they were privileged.
The number of cases exploded in the US
In the United States, the number of notifications regarding the sexual blackmail addressed to the FBI has been doubled over the past three years, reaching a maximum of 55,000 in 2024. In the UK, the National Crime Fighting Agency receives 110 notifications every month.
Social media companies say they take action, but their critics claim they could intervene more aggressively. Meta stated in 2024 that she eliminated 63,000 accounts that were dealing with such bonds in Nigeria in a single action, including 2,500 who were part of a coordinated network targeting Western teenagers.
A spokesman of Meta said that the company is struggling aggressively against this phenomenon, destroying scammers and supporting law enforcement.
In Romania, the national telephone number for children is 119. This is a unique, free and confidential number, where children can ask for help in situations of abuse, operation, neglect or any form of violence.
Photo source: dreamstime.com
