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The Rise of 'Sextortion' Against Teens Posting Racy Photos of Themselves Online

By Bruce Carton

We've seen plenty of examples recently of men using "sex-by-trick" to get women to sleep with them (e.g., pretending you are a "Jewish bachelor looking for a serious romantic relationship" or pretending you are a good-looking male model whose elderly dad (actually you) "requires constant sex to stay alive") -- but The Associated Press reports that a far creepier tactic is now on the rise: "Sextortion." According to the AP, federal prosecutors are seeing an upswing in cases of online sexual extortion, where "teens who text nude cell phone photos of themselves or show off their bodies on the Internet are being contacted by pornographers who threaten to expose their behavior to friends and family unless they pose for more explicit porn, creating a vicious cycle of exploitation." Some recent examples: Three girls at a party visited an Internet chat room and yielded to requests to flash their breasts. A week later, one of the girls started getting e-mails from a stranger who said he had captured her image on the webcam and would publish the pictures unless she posed for more explicit pictures and videos for him. On at least two occasions, the girl did what her blackmailer demanded....

Full post as published by Legal Blog Watch on August 16, 2010 (boomark / email).