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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Libby Brooks Scotland correspondent

‘Fear, shame, hopelessness’: how young men are blackmailed online

A child's hands on a laptop keyboard
The Internet Watch Foundation says many of these targeted crimes are carried out by criminal gangs. Photograph: Ianni Dimitrov Pictures/Alamy

“We’re not the family we used to be,” says Rachel, as she reflects on the aftermath of discovering that her teenage son, Ben, had been the victim of online blackmail.

“He’s got an older sibling, so on weekends we used to do everything together, going out as a family. But when all this came about, that stopped. Ben wouldn’t go out, because he was always looking over his shoulder.”

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