Online 'Sextortion' On The Rise

Posted in Sunday, August 15, 2010
by nessy jane

The nightmare began with a party: three teenage girls with a webcam, visit a discussion forum on the Internet and, yielding to demands to flash their breasts. A week later, a daughter, a 17-year-old from Indiana, began threatening e-mails.

An unknown

said it had captured its image on the webcam and publish photos to their MySpace friends if she posed for pictures and videos more explicit about it. At least twice, the teenager did what his blackmailer demanded. Finally, the police and federal authorities became involved and charged a 19 year old man in Maryland in June on charges of sexual exploitation.

federal prosecutors and defenders of the safety of children say they see a recovery in such cases of extortion of sexual favors online. They say that teenagers who text naked cellphone photos of themselves or show their bodies on the Internet have been approached by pedophiles who threaten to expose their behavior to friends and family, unless that they account for porn more explicit, creating a vicious circle of exploitation.

A federal affidavit

includes a special term for the crime: "sextortion."

No tracks currently

the number of cases involving online sexual extortion in state and federal courts, but prosecutors and others to the development of several recent examples of large-scale victimization of young people in a dozen states: " / p>

- In Alabama, Jonathan Vance, 24, of Auburn, was sentenced to 18 years in prison in April after admitting sending threatening e-mails on Facebook and MySpace extorting nude photos of young women over 50 in Alabama, Pennsylvania and Missouri.

- In Wisconsin, Stancl Anthony, 18, received 15 years in prison in February after prosecutors said he represented as a young girl on Facebook to deceive men schoolmates by sending nude photos of cell phone, which he then used to extort 'for sex.

- A 31 year old man has been arrested in California in June on charges of extortion after authorities said he hacked into more than 200 computers and threatened to expose the nude photos he found at least their owners have asked for more sexually explicit videos. Forty-four of the victims were minors, authorities said. Federal prosecutors said he was even able to remotely activate the webcams of some victims without their knowledge and save them to undress or have sex.

cases have prompted police officials and advocates to warn teens about their activities. Privacy is nonexistent on the Internet, and once indiscretions appear online, it is virtually impossible to regain. A nude photo sent to their mobile, with a boyfriend can move easily through the cell phone contacts and wind on Web sites that post pictures sexting. Once there, it is available to anyone who wants to trace the person who did it.

"The children put their heads into the lion's mouth every time they do," said Parry Aftab, a lawyer and advocate of online safety for children.

Teens may be more vulnerable to blackmail because they are easily intimidated and embarrassed to seek help. And the crooks are often willing to take their threats, "said Steve Debrot, Deputy Prosecutor of the United States in Indianapolis, who has been involved in investigations sextortion.

"You're Blackmail, Aftab says," ... and you will do everything to keep these images out. "

In the case of Indiana, the mother of the teenager called police when she learned about the threats. Authorities are assigned by Internet service providers to monitor chat sessions and e-mails to their source, a computer in Mechanicsville, Md., according to court documents.

According to court documents, the computer's owner, Trevor Shea, told agents that he had engaged in similar initiatives with about 10 girls, most of them 17 or 18.

His trial is scheduled for August 30. He pleaded not guilty and his lawyer, Michael Donahoe, said he is working on a possible solution.

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