A recent news bulletin from the FBI warned the public of a strong correlation between sextortion cases involving minors and suicides.
Most commonly, extortion is a crime in which offenders coerce victims into producing sexual images and videos of themselves and then extort money from them. However, these incidents don’t always involve sexually explicit content featuring the actual victim, as deepfake nudes can be generated from innocent photos using artificial intelligence tools, as previously reported in The Dallas Express.
Criminals have been increasingly targeting minors online in their sextortion schemes, according to the FBI. The predators, who typically reside outside the United States, often pose as adolescents on social media and online gaming platforms to get close to child victims and obtain the explicit content from them.
Sextortion schemes are unfortunately not new, but FBI field offices are trying to build public awareness amid a marked increase in this type of crime in recent years, as previously covered in The Dallas Express.
Together with Homeland Security Investigations, the FBI fielded over 13,000 reports of fraudsters attempting to extort minors in this way between October 2021 and March 2023. A 20% increase in such reports was seen from October 2022 to March 2023 compared to the previous six-month period.
Data suggests that males between the ages of 14 and 17 are the most frequent victims of sextortion, and that these incidents are connected to an alarming number of suicides.
Of the estimated 12,600 victims of sextortion attempts in the 18-month period, at least 20 committed suicide. In light of this, the FBI stressed the importance of prevention efforts through education and communication.
“The shame, fear, and confusion children feel when they are caught in this cycle often prevents them from asking for help or reporting the abuse,” said the FBI, according to Fox 4 KDFW. “Caregivers and young people should understand how the crime occurs and openly discuss online safety.”
Most sextortion cases appear to involve malicious actors in West Africa and Southeast Asia, but the FBI encourages children to be taught not to share personal details with any strangers. An estimated 89% of child sex predators are believed to use social media to make contact with their intended victims.
Some even go to considerable lengths to meet their target, as was the case of Deandre DeSuza, a 28-year-old resident of Las Vegas. As previously covered in The Dallas Express, DeSuza was arrested in March 2022 on allegations of grooming, trafficking, and sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl from Ellis County in October 2021. He is currently serving a life sentence in prison after investigators allegedly uncovered digital evidence of him grooming and taking explicit images of the victim.
In Dallas, there were 753 sex crime cases logged in 2023, according to the City of Dallas crime analytics dashboard. Black and Hispanic women and girls represent the vast majority of sex crime victims in Dallas.
The Dallas Police Department has been endeavoring to curb crime citywide despite a longstanding staffing shortage. It only fields 3,000 officers, although a City report previously recommended a force of around 4,000 to adequately ensure public safety. The difficulties continue to mount for DPD, with Dallas city officials budgeting only $654 million for police operations this year. This is far less than spending in other high-crime jurisdictions, including New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago.