Imagine a teenage boy, alone with his phone late at night. A message pings in from a pretty stranger, or even from the hacked account of a girl he already knows. Either way, it’s crudely calculated to grab his attention. There will be pictures, tantalising promises of something even more explicit, if he’ll send nudes in response. But if he does, the brutal trap springs shut.
What follows is a demand for money, if he doesn’t want the compromising pictures plastered all over the internet for everyone at school to see. Some boys (the vast majority of so-called sextortion victims are boys) try to pay up. The lucky ones panic and tell their parents. Tragically, a handful are known to have killed themselves rather than risk public humiliation.
