reports for “sextortion” explode in France

It has become one of the main threats to young people on social media. Intimate video blackmail was the subject of 12,000 reports last year, compared to only around ten three years ago. Adolescents are the main victims.

Nina* still has trouble talking about it. When she was only 17 years old, this young girl was one of the many French victims of “sextortion”. This blackmail consists of threatening a teenager to distribute intimate photos or videos if he does not pay his attacker.

For Nina, it started on Instagram. A man, who says he is 23 years old, contacts her by private messaging. He wants to get to know each other. At the time, the young girl was doing very badly, barely speaking to her parents, scarring herself, and had even already tried to end her life. So she confides, little by little, in this stranger who listens to her and puts her at ease. Until the conversation took a turn.

“Very quickly, he asked me to send photos, videos, to call him, to undress.”

Nina*, victim of sextortion

at franceinfo

He also forces the young woman to film herself during certain sexual acts that he describes to her. All this with very specific threats, says Nina. “He had found my school, my address, the place where my little brother lived”, she delivers. The man also threatens to contact Nina’s doctor and psychologist to tell them that she is scarifying herself, when she had promised to stop doing it. Very quickly, he also asked Nina for money: 100 or 200 euros several times a week. Out of fear, Nina complies, via an online bank. Her entire apprentice salary goes there for several months.

Thousands of reports, but few complaints

A “hell” for the young girl whose condition is deteriorating. “I turned off my phone, I had anxiety attacks as soon as I received a message from him. I continued to scar myself more and more. I stopped my psychologist, I skipped classes.” Until “day too many” where Nina attempts suicide. Hospitalized, the young woman then managed to confide in a nurse and permanently blocked her attacker’s account. However, she refuses to file a complaint. “I already didn’t trust many peopleexplains the teenager. Now I don’t trust anyone anymore.” Not even the police.

This reluctance to report the facts to the police is shared by many victims. While the authorities recorded 12,000 reports last year, only around a hundred complaints were filed in 2023.

“There is a very strong feeling of guilt among victims who tell themselves that they are responsible for what happens to them.”

Gabrielle Hazan, the boss of OFMIN

at franceinfo

OFMIN, this new office specializing in crimes committed against minors, is nevertheless trying to tackle the phenomenon. And first by tracking down the authors. Scammers “more and more numerous” and whose profiles have diversified a lot, explains Gabrielle Hazan, chead of the Minors Office. “Until then, we had a lot of authors located abroad [notamment en Côte d’Ivoire, ndlr], but now more and more authors are in France”, dare “adult sexual predators” but also, “for a short time, very young perpetrators, with acts committed between children who reproduce the same modus operandi of sexual blackmail online”, says the commissioner. Most often with financial motivation.

Victims pay after 45 minutes

Some authors aim to “obtain new content which has great value in the pedophile sphere”. They rather target young girls, explains Gabrielle Hazan. At the same time, sextortion “financial purpose explodes”, assures the policewoman, and these mainly target boys. But whatever their motivations, the perpetrators are often very experienced and can, in one day, target nearly a hundred victims on the social networks most popular with adolescents, such as Instagram and TikTok, but also increasingly on online gaming platforms.

Today, “sextortion is still a criminal mode that works”, regrets Gabrielle Hazan. The proof : “Between the first contact and payment, it takes 45 minutes on average. It’s very short”, says the boss of OFMIN who calls on victims to never pay. First because “if the victim pays, he or she will immediately be subject to a new, even more expensive and more aggressive demand for payment.” Then because “extortionists very rarely carry out their threats”, assures the commissioner. “They are in a logic of profitability. For them, there will be an interest in extorting another victim rather than going after this victim.”

Fight isolation

If adolescents pay off their attackers so quickly, it is often because they feel isolated. The facts happen most often “in the privacy of a teenager’s bedroom”, explains Samuel Comblez, the deputy director of e-Enfance. This association, which manages the hotline number 3018, received nearly 10,000 calls from victims of sextortion last year. Children who are often vulnerable and alone in the face of what happens to them. “They are prime targets, portrays Samuel Fillez. The adolescent, whatever his profile, is already a vulnerable person, due to his age, his lack of life experience and his natural naivety.. A loneliness reinforced by the very nature of sextortion.

“On this subject, we talk about sexuality, feelings, naked bodies, subjects which are generally not discussed with parents. Scammers know very well that teenagers are very alone and will not go looking for help. help.”

Samuel Comblez, deputy director of E-Enfance

at franceinfo

Rather than making your child feel guilty, it is better to support them to better protect themselves. “If we tell teenagers today not to send naked photos, they will still do it, because it is their habit”, says Samuel Fillez. He therefore prefers to give advice: “If you really want to do it, OK. But do it well. Firstly, ensure that your identity cannot be revealed through these photos. Concretely, we will take a photo of his body but not of his head. This means that if the photo is distributed, there is no risk of being recognized and therefore the scam is less likely to succeed., estimates the deputy director of e-Enfance. The other piece of advice is to set all your social media accounts to private, to prevent strangers from accessing your content. Because now scammers can, thanks to artificial intelligence, strip children from clothed photos. With the possibility of setting up blackmail without even having to convince the victim to send these images.

*assumed first name