Crimestoppers Trust have launched a campaign in the Midlands to raise awareness of the crime and dangers of sextortion. The campaign is supported and part-funded by the Midlands Fraud Forum Limited, a non-profit organisation that supports counterfraud efforts in the Midlands.

Sextortion, also known as ‘financially motivated sexual extortion’, is a developing threat and a relatively new form of online blackmail. It is where criminals threaten to share explicit images or videos of a victim to the victim’s contacts and on social media if money isn’t paid, or if the victim fails to comply with a demand. The image may be a real photo taken by the victim or a fake image that the criminal has created to pursue blackmail.

Criminals target people through dating apps, social media, webcams or pornography sites. They may use fake ID to befriend a victim online and build trust, before requesting sexual images or videos.