More than 1,000 Scottish children have been blackmailed in ‘sextortion’ scams run by ruthless foreign gangs, the Mail on Sunday can reveal.
Shocking figures reveal that 1,200 children – some as young as 10 – have been victims of online threats and extortion.
The vast majority of victims have seen criminals use real and fake images to pose as young men and women online before tricking their victims into sending them sexually explicit material and then blackmailing them.
Their tactic is to threaten to distribute the photos to their victims’ friends and family and publish them online unless they pay a ransom.
These heartless scammers operate in the dark from locations all over the world and have tormented children so much that some have committed suicide out of fear.
Murray Dowey committed suicide after being sextorted
In an example of the global scale of sextortion, Instagram owner Meta last week removed 63,000 social media accounts linked to fraudsters operating in Nigeria.
The worrying statistics come after a Scottish teenager targeted by gangs took his own life.
Last December, Murray Dowey, 16, from Dunblane, Perthshire, took his own life after being sextorted.
Responding to the Scottish Mail on Sunday’s findings, Heidi Kempster, deputy chief executive of the Internet Watch Foundation, said: “Sexual extortion is a horrific crime and it is horrifying to see how many children are being targeted in Scotland and around the world.”
She added: “Children are never to blame in these cases, they are vulnerable victims of brazen online abusers who seek to exploit them for financial gain.”
In 2021, Police Scotland’s Deputy Chief Constable Pat Campbell exposed the scale of “sextortion” across the country, revealing that the youngest victim was ten years old.
He said: “It is a particularly worrying trend that we are seeing today that increasing numbers of children are being targeted and threatened in this way.”
However, as our investigation shows, the scale of the problem has exploded since then.
Crime statistics show that incidents of threats and extortion in Scotland have increased each year, from just 290 in 2019/20 to a record 2,080 this year.
A Scottish Government analysis based on a sample of police records now shows that 560 children under 16, including 50 under 13, were victims during this period.
Another 660 teenagers aged 16 and 17 were also targeted.
Last year, Justice Secretary Angela Constance confirmed that while not all online threats and extortion crimes necessarily involve sextortion, “it is very likely that a large proportion (and certainly the majority) of cases” do.
The figures, which show that the vast majority of victims are men, are based on an analysis of cybercrime data and give a general indication of the age and gender of victims.
Police Scotland itself told this newspaper that the problem was probably even worse than current figures show.
A police spokesperson said: “We are seeing an increase in the number of sextortion incidents being reported and while we are encouraged that victims appear more confident in coming forward, we know from our partners that this is likely to still be an under-reported offence.”
The National Crime Agency has even asked teachers to help them spot the signs that their students are becoming victims, with teenagers considered among the most vulnerable groups.
Police Scotland said most offenders were “likely to be located outside the UK”, which it said “makes these crimes very difficult to detect”.
This was the case in the tragic case of Murray Dowey.
The schoolboy was contacted on the social network Instagram by a person claiming to be a young girl.
In reality, it was a scammer who had tricked him into sending him an intimate photo. Within hours, he was the victim of cruel threats and blackmail.
In an interview with ITV, his mother Ros struggled to understand the ordeal her son had gone through.
She said: “The panic and terror he must have been in for that whole time, whether it was minutes or hours, I’m devastated for him, he was obviously in such a state that he thought suicide was the only thing he could do.”
The perpetrators of the scam are believed to be based in Nigeria, and Police Scotland is working with authorities there to track down those responsible.
The case has similarities to that of tragic teenager Daniel Perry.
In 2013, a 17-year-old boy from Fife committed suicide after being tricked into making explicit webcam recordings.
The apprentice mechanic thought he was talking online to a girl in the US, but the scammers told him the conversations had been recorded and would be shared with his friends and family unless he paid.
After his death, Scottish police discovered an internet trail leading to the Philippines and links to organised crime groups in that country.
In response to our article, Police Scotland said people targeted by sextortion scammers should not pay and should not be embarrassed or afraid to report it to police.
A spokesperson added: “People should not panic, the police and partner agencies can provide support.
“We want people to know that they will be treated with respect and dignity and that the circumstances will be professionally investigated. We will continue to work closely with our partners to raise awareness and offer support.”
Earlier this year, the National Crime Agency (NCA) warned all 57,000 primary and secondary school teachers across Britain that children were at risk.
Marie Smith, of the NCA, said: “They are extremely malicious, they don’t care about this child or his life.
“That’s why this is an alert rather than part of our broader education programme, because of the insensitivity we’re seeing, it’s extremely dangerous.”
The NCA alert provided advice on how to spot the signs of abuse, support young people and encourage them to seek help.
It also included advice for parents and guardians on how to talk to their child about sextortion and support them if they become victims.
She advises victims not to pay, to block the offender and to inform the police.
■ For confidential support call Samaritans on 116123, visit a branch or go to www.samaritans.org
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