(From the Newton County Sheriff's Office)
The Newton County Sheriff’s Office as well as law enforcement across the nation have seen a rise in online scams, especially social media “sextortion” scams. Sextortion – the act of threatening to share nude or explicit images – is more common than you think, and cases affecting young children, teens, and adults have increased exponentially in the past few years.
The scam starts very simply. A teen responds to an online message request, usually from someone pretending to be a female of similar age.
Quickly the suspect asks for an explicit photo from the victim. The next thing the victim knows, the new “friend” is threatening to send out the photo(s) and/or videos unless the victim sends them money.
This trend has resulted in an alarming number of deaths by suicide.
To help combat these scams the FBI has released the following tips:
-Be selective about what you share online. If your social media accounts are open to everyone, a predator may be able to figure out a lot of information about you.
-Be wary of anyone you encounter for the first time online.
-Be aware that people can pretend to be anything or anyone online. Pictures and videos are not necessarily proof of who the person is.
-Be suspicious if you meet someone on one app and the person starts asking you to talk on a different platform.
-Be in the know. Once you send something, you don’t have any control over where it goes next.
-Be willing to ask for help.
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