Sextors target young children online – and excel over the rich fraud process

Warning: This story deals with suicide.

As for the deception that declared himself “John”, attracting foreigners to send money is a full -time job.

“We are looking for them through Facebook or Instagram,” he told CBC’s. Market. “We look through celebrity accounts, followers’ accounts, then add them.”

It is one of the “Yahoo Boys” in Nigeria, and includes fraud that includes teenagers to send nude photos for themselves, then use this to blackmail them for money.

John, who is not his real name, lives in Lagos, and agreed to talk to him Market Inceds so that we can get an insight into how these fraudsters are able to do what they are doing.

For the full investigation, watch the “Sextinord” on Friday at 8 pm (8:30 in NL) on YouTube, CBC TV and CBC GEM.

Experts say this type of sexual blackmail – or Sextorting – has exploded in Canada since 2021. CBC has been able to verify that more than 40 suicides throughout North America, Australia and the United Kingdom in the past four years have been linked to Sextorting – five of them in Canada.

“I think this is the worst fraud in the world,” said Paul Rafeel, an Internet crime researcher. “There is no other fraud that includes targeting children, forcing them to the sexual abandonment situation, exploiting them, and blackmailing them. There are no other fraud. I think it is even compared to this.”

Two shots of videos side by side. In one of them, a man who wears a white Hodi dances, with a screenshot of a person who boasts about the money they earned above. The text on the screen boasts about making money to do "Bm"And that symbolizes blackmail. In the other, the young man is in a dark room that takes bills everywhere. — On social media, Yahoo Boys boasts about the money they make by fraud, dancing or parties on shots of victims or Yahoo children who helped in fraud. (CBC)

However, Sextorte is so profitable that fraudsters like boys Yahoo boasts their online wealth with luxury cars, clothes and cash. Not only that, but they share the resources on WhatsApp and TeleGram for a better way to blackmail teenagers in Canada and other places-including guiding brochures, textual programs that must be followed, and even applications that must be used, all with the aim of obtaining payment.

when Market John asked if he was never thinking about the suffering of his victims, he said: “I don’t know what I will answer.”

“It is painful to see that this crime is still happening.” “There are all these (preventive) measures that could have been placed in their place that would stop (Sextorting) from occurrence.”

“He had such a big heart.”

Sextinter is a fraud on Ryan Kleland knows very well – because his son Carson was a victim.

In 2023, 12 -year -old Carson was contacted by someone on Snapchat, who put a girl of his age. They started chatting, and the conversation soon turned into citizenship. Persuade him to send nude photos.

Then blackmail began. They requested gift cards, which are usually requested because it is difficult to track. Carson bought one and tried it, but Sextorter said he did not succeed.

Less than 12 hours after calling him by Sixstrater, Carson died due to suicide.

A boy sitting outside on a picnic seat with a phone in his hand. He holds his tongue with the camera. — The age of Karson Karson was only 12 years old when he was contacted by Sextorter online. He died due to suicide less than 12 hours later. (With the permission of Ryan Cleland)

“He was the most distracted child, and he was grateful, and he was laughing. He will make you smile and this will lead to a conversation with him.”

Eighty -five percent of Sextinters victims are children, according to new data from the Canadian Center for Child Protection.

“(Carson) knew what to do,” said Cleland, who spoke to his son about how to deal with extortion if he entered his photos in the wrong hands. “He couldn’t think about his fears. He was panic.”

The amount in the dollar requested by blackmail from Carson was barely enough to buy a new video game.

His father said: “Twenty -five dollars of dollars.”

Carson was not the only victim in his school. Some of his colleagues were also targeted by Sextors. This is part of the strategy of the fraudsters to bring their victims.

“They will target a specific secondary school and a specific university, and only add everyone from the lists of the sports team,” Rafeel said. “It makes their account look more legitimate when you have 20 common followers or contacts with someone.”

Market test

To test social media, handwriting, social media, Market Journalists created three fake profiles on Instagram, demonstrators as teenage children using the photo editing app to change their faces. To make the accounts look authentic, they created dozens of other personal files to fill their friends list, began to follow a few accounts, and they appeared in the followers of the followers that Raffile says that Sextors are suspected of repeating.

Within 24 hours, our team was targeted with seven accounts that requested naked. Try one Sextort account Market Although we have never sent nude photos, he shifted pictures of the penis next to a personal photo, we sent the account earlier.

Three screenshots of the phone from text messages on the phone screens. It shows clear text messages. He says one "Can you see me ___, immediately I will show you a finger ___ dimension" — A snapshot of some journalists in the conversation market with accounts says Sextinter Paul Raffile says it is “100 %”. (CBC)

Rafeel reviewed all the seven conversations. He even saw the image associated with one account before.

“This is 100 percent certainty, it is Sextorter,” said Rafeel.

Experts such as Raffile says that social media companies have been repeatedly exposed to responsibility and the implementation of protection that can save lives – such as checking the user’s identities, preventing the list of adolescent account friends so that Sextors cannot use it as a financial lever, and prevent nude images from sending them from adolescent accounts at all.

“We know that the primary source of the financial lever used by these criminals is the followers of the followers,” Rafeel said. “The moment the victim accepts the criminal’s follow -up, their entire social network is at risk.”

He adds that social media companies need to stop allowing their users to “create any identity they want to be.” He says companies are not excited to stop fake accounts from construction.

“These platforms make money through the number of active monthly users on their platform,” he said.

A Meta spokesman, who owns Instagram, denied the demand that she does not deter fake accounts. They said CBC Through e -mail, they removed the accounts we communicated with to violate their policies, and in 2024, they removed more than 60,000 Nigeria accounts saying they are trying to target people with fraud.

The spokesperson also said that adolescents’ accounts can only receive messages from the accounts they follow or communicate with before.

They added that it is only possible for others to see a private account if the owner accepts a follow -up request from the other account.

The Minister of Justice responds

During the federal elections earlier this year, Prime Minister Mark Carney a campaign to restore the online damage, a bill aimed at protecting children from exploitation such as Sextinter.

In an interview with Market, Justice Minister Sean Fraser says his government will present new legislation specifically dealing with online procedures, unusual participation of deep fake nudity and child temptation in the fall.

He says that these measures will be in addition to new law enforcement tools “to prevent this crime in addition to the efforts made to punish these heinous criminals strongly.”

“Dealing with a child’s loss is the most deep sadness that the family can try,” said Fraser. “We want to do what we can as a federal government to change the laws they do not work in, so more families will have protection that may have provided lives.”

A man wearing a suit bearing a folder walking with a series of flags. — The Minister of Justice and Public Prosecutor of Canada spoke to the market, and said that he will present new legislation in the fall to better protect children than crimes such as Sextorting. (Justin Tang/Canadian Press)

Ryan Cleland says more protection is needed to reduce the fraud that is victims of his son.

“So you can tell me frankly that children in this world are safe from predators like this, it will never be enough.”

On October 1, Cleland filed a lawsuit against Snapchat. The claim statement said that the platform intentionally attracts minors and implements “the ineffective parents’ controls.”

Snapchat did not respond to Cleland’s allegations.

I told the platform Market This Sextinter is “horrific” and they are “committed to enhancing our current tools and developing new tools to help combat this.”

Yahoo Boy Networks

Ravil says that many financial fraud at the present time “comes from West Africa, especially Nigeria.”

Since January, in Nigeria, the Economy and Financial Crime Committee has arrested more than 2000 online models in the country, according to press data on their website. The joint investigation by RCMP and FBI and the Nigerian police arrested one person connected to Sextorting in Canada.

yet Resources for how other Sextort multiply online. Market He went to a secret chat in WhatsApp and Telegram, where people shared educational programs and resources on how to run a wide range of fraud, including “BM” or blackmail.

The channels are run by Yahoo Boys who want to recruit others, and Market I found some of those who provided “VIP” resources – for a price.

A man stands in a dark room, surrounded by screens with text messages on them. — Paul rafile Sextinter is studying, and reviewing all the seven talks that journalists in the market were studying with accounts that asked us to send a nude photo. (Dave McCaintech/CBC)

Resources in these channels include text programs that tell Sextors exactly how to attract victims to send nudes, as well as applications that create fake news stories to deceive the victims to think that the media is submitting them, in order to click on them to send money.

Many conversations Market Journalists with Sextors Online followed these textual programs, many of which are hosted on a platform called SCRIBD.

when Market Scribd contacted these text programs, and a spokesman said they were taking the guidance of their community, and “it should not appear on our platform.”

“Once we taught us, we immediately acted to remove the material and suspend the responsible account. We have also performed a comprehensive survey to determine and download any related content.”

Meta, which also owns WhatsApp, He said Market When they find groups that violate their policies, they take enforcement measures, which may include user ban and group suspension.

A telegram says The content that is explicitly encouraging fraud is prevented from their basic system, and is removed when discovered. They add, “It is impossible for any criminal content removal platform, just as it is impossible to completely eliminate crime in any city despite the active police.”

Market Talk to another SEXTINTER victim that we call Kyle. He agreed to talk to us secretly, because he is afraid to compensate him.

“I was suicide for a very long time,” he said. But he wants children to suffer from what Carson lived to realize that there is life after the procedures.

“There will be people who love you, and the people who care about you, even if you don’t know that, there is someone who cares enough to understand it.”

If you or a person you know are fighting, here is the place of searching for help:

https://i.cbc.ca/1.7648282.1759438403!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/16x9_1180/sextortion-head-image.jpg?im=Resize%3D620

Source link