Trends in Cybercrime-“Sextortion” in Teens and Children
Curtis M. Styles
CJA/570
April 23, 2012
Ray Gagne

Trends in Cybercrime-"Sextortion" in Teens and Children
Electronic methods of committing crimes in society today, is generally a new phenomenon. Modern crimes directed against the operation of computer technology itself, presents new crimes that are as new as contemporary technology. The Internet has opened a variety of new rooms for cybercriminals to commit cyber-based terrorist attempts, computer intrusions, and major cyberfrauds. Cyberextortion is an outsider threat designed to obtain money, products, or favorable considerations from an organization or individuals by using illegal means of persuasion related to computer intrusion (Cybercrime Investigation & Intelligence, 2012). This paper addresses the relatively new form of sexual exploitation called “sextortion” that has emerged on the cybersex crime scene recently, and its affect upon teenagers and children. In addition, the paper addresses the dangers of scams associated with “sextortion”, its criminal profile, law enforcement initiatives to combat “sextortion”, and the penalties for committing these types of crimes.
“Sextortion” is a method of sexual exploitation in which individuals are extorted with nude images of themselves shared online over the Internet. Texting has become the modern day method of communication among teens and children, and in the case of “sextortion” these images are displayed online via the new term of “Sexting” that is done via cell phones. Sexual predators that live online, in chat rooms, and on social networking websites eventually coerce their victims into performing sexual acts, or even performing hardcore pornography by sending threating e-mails through personal sites or social networking sites, such as Facebook, and MySpace. The demands of the extortionist