CONTENT WARNING: This article discusses image based abuse.
An annual report by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has revealed that figures for blackmail and extortion have increased significantly throughout Australia.
According to the ABS report, there were 3380 victims of blackmail and extortion recorded in Australia in 2023 with a shocking 56 per cent increase from 2022. The most affected state was New South Wales with 1029 victims, indicating a whopping 122 per cent increase in blackmail cases.
While this statistic is shocking alone, the 56 per cent increase comes after an increase of 117 per cent in 2022.
The report revealed that the most at-risk segment for extortion scams are males under 18 (30 per cent) and males between 18 – 24 (39 per cent), meaning that two-thirds (69 per cent) of victims were 24 years old or younger. Often, this segment is exposed to a blackmail threat called Sextortion.
What is Sextortion?
Sexual extortion — or Sextortion — is a form of online blackmail when a scammer courses you into sending intimate images or videos, then threatens to share the explicit content publicly with your friends or family unless you follow their demands. More often than not, these demands involve a payment from the victim to the scammer.
In this situation, scammers make you feel like your reputation is on the line and that the only way out is to do what they say.
While the government’s eSafety commissioner advises people who fall prey to a sextortion scam to stop all contact and not pay the scammer, it’s an incredibly distressing scenario to be in — especially for the young demographic of victims most commonly targeted by scammers.
Here’s how it can go down
One of those victims was 19-year-old Evan who was a victim of sextortion after meeting a scammer on a dating app.
“I met them on Tinder, and they were verified so I assumed it was all good,” Evan told PEDESTRIAN.TV.
They began chatting for a few days before taking their conversation off Tinder to the chat app LINE— a move that Tinder doesn’t recommend, according to their safety policies. Although Evan didn’t have the LINE app, he downloaded it specifically so they could chat.
“They sent me a lot of provocative messages and wanted to call, but said they wanted to see my face first,” he explained.
“They screen recorded everything on call then sent me the screenshots of all my followers on Instagram saying they would send the video if I didn’t send them $5000 AUD.”
Evan admits he was panicked at first, trying to get them to settle on a lower price. But eventually, he spoke to his parents who dished out some pretty great advice.
“They said don’t pay it, it’s just a dick and doesn’t matter at the end of the day,” he said.
But after he told his blackmailer that he wouldn’t be coughing up the cash, they kept sending him threatening messages. As a result, he took to his Instagram Story to warn people that a bit of explicit content might be coming their way.
“I put what happened on my Story so everyone knew but even though I didn’t pay, they never sent the video. It’s all scare tactics,” he explained.
“In the moment, it felt like everything was over and affected me really badly,” he said.
“It definitely made me feel stupid, and made me think more about the silly shit I do online but now when I look back I realise it wasn’t a big deal.”
While Evan managed to escape his run with sextortion relatively unscathed, that’s not the case for everyone who finds themselves in the middle of an online blackmail plot.
“This demographic is increasingly a target for cybercriminals who threaten to expose their internet browsing history, or explicit images and videos,” said Ajay Unni, the CEO and founder of Stickman Cyber.
“It should not be overstated how stressful and potentially damaging these extortion campaigns can be. This is especially true for young people who are less emotionally mature.”
What should I do if I’m being blackmailed or sextorted?
If you find yourself in a blackmail or sextortion situation, help is available. The eSafety Commissioner recommends stopping all contact and taking screenshots of the texts between you and the profile of the person extorting you.
You can then report the incident to the eSafety Commissioner. For more information on what to do if you find yourself in this situation, visit the eSafety Comissioner’s guide on image-based abuse.
It’s worth noting that in Australia, it is illegal to share — or threaten to share — explicit images of videos without consent. This means that criminal laws could apply depending on your state and territory.
For those under 18 experiencing extortion, you can report it and seek help via the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation.
If you’d like to speak to someone about image based abuse, please call the 1800 Respect hotline on 1800 737 732 or chat online.
Under 25? You can reach Kids Helpline at 1800 55 1800 or chat online.
