During the past few days, the suicide of the Egyptian teenager, Basant Khaled, caused a violent shock in Arab societies. The girl, who has not yet reached the age of seventeen, took her life, after she was subjected to electronic blackmail by two young men who published scandalous pictures of her among the people of her village. Basant could not stand the pressure and bullying from her neighbors, classmates, and even some of her teachers, so she decided to end her life, leaving a touching letter to her mother, which she wrote in a jerky, childish handwriting on a piece of paper that appears to have been cut out of one of her lesson notebooks that she will no longer be able to follow.
The Bassant incident was not the first of its kind, and perhaps to put it in its true light, we have to make it clear that cyber-extortion of teens has become a global phenomenon. In 2013, Daniel Berry, a 17-year-old living in Scotland, ended his life after receiving threats to publish explicit pictures of himself he had previously shared with what he believed to be an American girl.
In a similar incident in Ireland this time, a group of teenagers between the ages of fifteen and sixteen were subjected to similar blackmail, where they were threatened with publishing explicit pictures of them and asked to send sums of money ranging between 300-8000 euros. Fortunately, some reported to the police, who tracked down the criminals.
Everywhere around the world today’s teenagers are subjected to various forms of electronic blackmail, some of them choose to remain silent, surrender and do what the blackmailer demands, while some resort to the worst option chosen by Basant and other victims who decided to end their lives to get rid of pressure and social stigma, and people only wake up After the disaster has already occurred.
Read also: A cry for help before it is too late… Your guide to dealing with suicidal thoughts in children and adolescents
Whether you live in a forgotten small village, or in a sprawling big city, your children remain vulnerable to electronic blackmail. You may think that you are protected, and that your children are immune, but reality and numbers have another opinion. According to a report by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which has been tracking online sexual extortion since October 2013, this type of crime has been on the rise year by year.
Between 2014-2015, the report monitored an increase of 90% in cases of extortion, a pattern that continued thereafter, with the rate reaching 150% during the first several months of 2016 compared to 2014. According to the data, 78% of incidents are related to female children , and 15% of male children (the gender of the child was not disclosed in the remaining percentage), while the ages of the victims at the time of the accidents ranged between 8-17 years.
Indeed, these numbers reveal only a small part of the tragedy, as we know that many victims will not report sextortion out of fear or shame, especially in more conservative societies. While the Internet may be an entertaining and useful place for children and teens, a space to develop new relationships, and explore different spaces for development and creativity, it is also an uncensored space that allows blackmailers to hide their identities and pretend to be friends, where they find teens an easy target for their threats, whether to get money or forcing them to engage in forced sexual practices, or to produce sexual images or clips in a perverted way.
How does electronic extortion happen?
Cyber blackmail or online blackmail is defined as the threat to share an individual’s information, including photos or videos, with family, friends and the general public over the Internet, unless the bargaining/extortionist’s request is met.
Perpetrators often use sophisticated methods to reach their victims. It begins with a private message, or a comment on a public post, and thus a series of simple and calculated interactions escalate, to develop a false relationship between the perpetrator and the victim, in which the offender is able to lure his victim, remove her sense of sensitivity, and immerse her in attention and sympathy in order to build a relationship of friendship or a relationship of a deceptive romantic nature . Then, the victim is lured into sharing intimate/inappropriate content, which is then used to blackmail her. Sometimes the offender can access the victim’s content through a spyware or other means, for example through a third party. (1)
After falling into the trap, victims of sexual extortion suffer from feelings of stigma and shame, fear of isolation or facing others, or of getting into trouble at school or work, all of which may prevent them from seeking help from others. These feelings may also be accompanied by a feeling of trauma from the experience of being threatened, not to mention the impact of sexual abuse and blackmail on the mental and psychological health of adolescents, which is reflected in their personal lives and their educational and career path in most cases.
In the few moments of revelation, victims of electronic sextortion express feelings of helplessness and vulnerability, describing the feeling of living in fear of the next message from the blackmailer who demands more. In addition to the constant concern that the blackmailer will carry out his threat and publish this content in public, especially since the nature of this type of blackmail makes it easy to blame the victim, who may remain trapped in this circle for years sometimes without knowing how to get out of it. (2)
What, then, about the categories of extortion victims and their ages? According to the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the crimes of electronic extortion included children starting at the age of eight, and they affected children and adolescents of both sexes, and from different racial backgrounds and socioeconomic classes. Some of the victims were outstanding students, the children of teachers, and those who excelled in sports, among others. The only characteristic that united these victims was their ability to use the Internet. In short, anyone can be subjected to electronic blackmail.
When the teenager/child falls into the network of those who threaten him, the endless cycle of abuse begins, where the blackmailer realizes that he has taken an easy game that can be controlled, so that the circle closes on the victim, who chooses silence for fear of the reactions of his parents, colleagues and teachers, as he may fear in some Sometimes being denied the use of a phone or computer. Thus, this cycle is only broken if the victim decides to break it at some point and speak out about what is happening.
How do you protect your children?
Well, let’s get to the most important part, because prevention is better than cure, the best way to stop online extortion is to prevent it from happening before it starts. We have inherited the advice from our parents not to talk to strangers, but today strangers may come in the clothes of friends on social media, or colleagues on the platform, many wolves waiting in the woods, hidden in the clothes of good grandma.
In the beginning, you need to educate your children from an early age about the signs of grooming they may be exposed to online. Perpetrators may be male or female, and they may be individuals who children have been brought up to respect and revere, such as teachers or even relatives. There are clear signs of danger, such as asking them to keep conversations private, or talking to them about sexual matters. It might start with the blackmailer talking about some of his own experiences, using his natural insatiability and curiosity about sexual relations to coax a teen or child into sending inappropriate pictures or clips. (3)
You should also be aware that the natural curiosity about sex may lead the teenager in this case to search for satisfaction of his curiosity on the Internet. Provide the necessary resources and knowledge for him according to his age, and talk to him frankly and without shame, this will give him the opportunity to ask you what he wants to know, without having to dive into the unknowns of the Internet in pursuit of talking to strangers.
At the same time, always teach your children to abide by the main safety rules in dealing with the Internet, and the first of these rules is to select and minimize personal posts on social media, the more children share on social media, the more fraudsters can discover about them.
Also, ask your children to be careful when interacting with strangers online, and not to accept friend or chat requests from people they don’t know. Teach them that people can easily fake their identities on the Internet, and that personal photos do not necessarily represent them, they can simply be stolen and modified. (4) You should also warn them about malware that can take over their devices without their knowledge, and tell them that they should not open attachments or links from people they don’t know. Have them cover webcams when they are not using them. (5)
There are many sources that can be used to educate your children about the dangers of the Internet, for example, “Think u know” contains various sources, whether educational videos, articles or presentations, divided according to age groups to help children and adolescents behave And confront extortion and protect their privacy through various Internet media.
You can also follow this series, which provides lessons in digital safety in a fun and diverse way according to the age group, and you can also benefit from the guide provided by UNICEF for families to protect children from the dangers of the Internet, which is available in Arabic.
What if extortion has already occurred?
With all these measures, remember that your children are children after all, and that their curiosity may eventually make them vulnerable to blackmailers. Therefore, you need to explain to them in simple language about the blackmailer’s behavior and the blackmailer’s behavior. Tell them that the blackmailer relies on the victim’s feelings of guilt or fear and embarrassment to tell others, and that they should trust your support and support even if they send their pictures to one of the blackmailers of their own free will.
The most important advice you give your children is that they should never comply with what the blackmailer demands, no matter how much harm he promises to do, because that will only be the beginning and he will always ask for more. If one of your children is being blackmailed, think only of supporting them, not punishing them or expressing your anger and disappointment. Remember it is much needed support now, go to the police to report, there are cybercrime departments in most countries nowadays. Blackmailers feed on fear, and the fear results from the child or teen feeling that there is no one to turn to, always keep the door open for your children, so they know you are always here, and support them whatever they are involved in.
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Sources
- How to Protect Teenagers from Internet Blackmail
- Is Someone on the Internet Blackmailing Your Teen?
- how to Protect Teenagers from Internet Blackmail
- FBI Launches Sextortion Awareness Campaign in Schools
- Is Someone on the Internet Blackmailing Your Teen?