HAMPTON ROADS, Va. — Sextortion is a growing problem as new cases emerge every week in Virginia.
Experts say sextortion occurs when someone threatens to share nude or explicit pictures or videos, often demanding money in return.
The WTKR Investigative Team uncovered several recent local sextortion cases.
In two separate incidents, two men sent nude pictures to people they were flirting with online.
Court documents state that one man said he was just trying to “mess around.”
In both cases, the individuals on the other end of the online flirting threatened to send the images to the men’s family members if they did not send money.
Both victims sent a few hundred dollars before getting the police involved.
The WTKR Investigative Team sat down with leaders at Samaritan House to discuss sextortion.
“Everything we do now is really online. With social media, gaming apps, texting, and all these smart devices and smartphones, there’s a huge uptick, especially among young people,” Meredith Williams, with Samaritan House Crisis Services, said.
Crime Analyst Richard James, who worked as a detective for 20 years, shared the following advice: “I would never recommend sending photographs of yourself in a compromising position or nudity to anybody.”
In another case uncovered by the WTKR Investigative Team, a woman told police she received Instagram messages from people warning that nude videos of her were posted on a foreign website that showed her in sexual acts. The messages continued, with people repeatedly calling her workplace to inform her about the images.
The team continues to explore different aspects of sextortion after the FBI reported an increase in schemes targeting boys.
The FBI states that in these cases, the criminals were trying to extort money.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children reported an 82% increase in sextortion cases in 2022.
“Don’t ever give in to somebody requesting more sexual videos or photos because it will not stop there,” said Williams. “They will continue to seek out money. They will continue to seek out more videos.”
In a different kind of case, Seth Miller called police and said he was the victim of extortion. But when police started investigating, they say they allegedly found child pornography and inappropriate conversations with teens on his phone, according to a search warrant. It stated the person on the other end of the conversation started to demand money.
The FBI says sextortion can happen in many different ways, but they warn people of all ages to be careful what you send.
“Once you put it out there, it’s out there. When you put it on the internet, when you send it through a text, it’s no longer between you and that person,” said Williams.
They say in some cases, the victim, at one point, trusted the person who is now exploiting them.
“It’s heartbreaking because there’s so much shame because it all started with something they willingly did,” said Williams.
Experts shared the following advice: talk to kids about sextortion, report all cases to authorities, pay attention to red flags, don’t delete anything, and save all screenshots because it can help in an investigation.
