What is sextortion?

Sexual extortion or sextortion is a form of online blackmail where someone tricks or coerces you into sending sexual images or videos of yourself and then threatens to share the images or videos of you unless you give in to their demands (eSafety, 2024). Usually, these demands are for more images, payment or sexual favours.

Australia is currently experiencing a global trend of offenders predominantly targeting teenage boys and young men aged 15-22 to send sexual images and threatening to share them unless they pay.

It’s important to be aware of the following risks and the steps you can take to manage them:

• Be very wary of attractive strangers approaching you on social media, dating sites and gaming apps out of the blue, especially if the interaction becomes sexual straight away. There's a big risk it's an impersonator account being managed by organised criminals trying to blackmail you.

• The advice from the eSafety Commissioner is this: “Do not engage or pay, and approach eSafety for assistance. Take screenshots of the threats and user profile and record the user profile URL, then report it to the platform before you block the account”.

• If images or videos are shared, report it to www.esafety.gov.au Their investigators can help get that content quickly removed.

 Learn more about sextortion and the steps to take here:

·      https://www.accce.gov.au/sextortionhelp

·      https://www.esafety.gov.au/key-topics/image-based-abuse/deal-with-sextortion