Sextortion on the rise
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 Boys Art and Entertainment LGBT+ RSOL Politics Science, Technology, Health Current events Deaths by Staff Writer - 2022
In recent weeks, numerous news stories have appeared about Ryan Last, a 17-year-old high school student who sent explicit pictures to a person he believed to be a teenage girl. Unable to pay the demands of the blackmailer, Ryan Last killed himself rather then face public humiliation. This is an all to familiar scenario within the Boylove community. These methods have been used for years by law enforcement and so-called "Pedo-hunters", online vigilantes seeking to entrap people in compromising and embarrassing situations. This has resulted in numerous deaths by suicide, certainly hundreds and perhaps even thousands. It is unknown how many police officers, cyber-vigilantes, and other cybercriminals have collected this information for the purposes of blackmail, as few have been willing to come forward and admit that they were a victim of such a crime because of both the legal and social consequences. Several studies including "Harm in the Digital Age: Critiquing the Construction of Victims, Harm, and Evidence in Proactive Child Luring Investigations" published in the Manitoba Law Journal in 2020 have concluded that these types of operations “rarely uncover any instances of harmful behavior, ‘real’ victimization, or any criminal activity aside from the initial conversation.” These sting operations across the country are funded by the federal government at a cost of approximately $35 million dollars a year.
https://www.voanews.com/a/u-s-warns-of-rise-in-sextortion-schemes-targeting-teen-boys-/6882838.html https://theappeal.org/online-child-sex-stings-protect-act/ https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/19/politics/justice-department-sextortion/index.html |
