Boys, aged 11 to 14, are being targeted by international criminal organisations and blackmailed for money after being tricked into sending naked photos of themselves to scammers posing as young, attractive women.

The youngsters are asked to send their parents’ credit card details and threatened that the photos will be shared on social media if they fail to do so.

Malta’s online abuse helpline received about 20 reports of financial sextortion of young boys over the past six months, explained Deborah Vassallo, the project coordinator of BeSmartOnline, a project that seeks to promote online safety and offers support to victims of online abuse.

“Financial sextortion of young boys is increasing globally and locally. They are being targeted by criminal organisations often based in African or Asian countries. These young boys are made to believe they are chatting with a beautiful woman who sends them photos, and eventually naked ones. They are then asked to share a naked photo of themselves. The minute they do, they start blackmailing them for money.

“Reporting is not easy for them. There is the guilt of sending the photos and stealing the card – if they get to that point – coupled with the shame. The solution is not sending money as, once they do, the criminals will not leave them alone,” Vassallo cautioned.

Sextortion is only a part of the problem facing youths. The highest reports are cyberbullying from young people to young people. Bullying can take different forms such as through private messages, public comments using a fake account, and even fake e-mail addresses.

Very often, the instigator knows the victim and is aware of personal issues.

“One of the worst cases we had was of a teen whose cyberbullying was linked to his father who had just died. He was told things like: ‘I hope you lose your mother and she has a head tumour’.  There also was instigation of suicide. The child filed the report after speaking to someone at school and they sought help,” Vassallo said.

The perpetrator turned out to be a quiet boy who the victim may have bullied.

Another case involved a 15-year-old girl. A fake Instagram profile with her name and surname was created and photos she shared from the past were posted with comments suggesting she would do sexual things. It turned out that the perpetrators were in her group of friends and one of them was a boy she did not want to go out with.

Vassallo said the majority of child abuse reports involved images or videos posted by young people themselves that would have then been leaked. There were also cases of photos posted by parents, for example of a baby during bath time with their genitals exposed. 

“It’s very scary. There is a business on the dark web of photos of children being sold. We need people to report. We then work with our counterparts in other countries to stop them and save these children,” she said.

Project coordinator Deborah Vassallo: “Financial sextortion of young boys is increasing globally and locally.”

Cyberbullying remains high

A social worker by profession, Vassallo has been part of the BeSmartOnline project since it was launched 13 years ago. It is implemented through a consortium coordinated by the Foundation for Social Welfare Services and brings together the Commissioner for Children, the Directorate for Learning and Assessment Programmes and the police’s Cyber Crime Unit. BeSmartOnline is part of a European network.

The project includes Supportline 179 that focuses on internet abuse as well as the child abuse hotline www.childwebalert.gov. mt, an online reporting facility for illegal child abuse material.

Over the years, the reports for both services have been on the increase. The reports received by the online abuse Supportline increased from 505 in 2020 to 691 in 2021 and 730 in 2022. So far there have been 445 reports this year.

Number of reports made to the online abuse helpline 179. Source: BeSmartOnline

Number of reports made to the child abuse hotline. Source: BeSmartOnline

Speaking about the child abuse hotline, Vassallo said the numbers were also on the increase. They increased from 885 in 2020, dropping to 353 in 2021 and increasing to 846 in 2022. This year 1,776 reports of illicit behaviour were received.

The sharp increase this year is because a person would have reported one illegal forum that leads to multiple websites being investigated – each as individual reports, she said.

Vassallo stressed that reports were anonymous as the priority was not to get to the bottom of how the person came across the illegal material but to stop the abuse.

Anyone who wishes to report online abuse can contact Supportline 179 or visit besmartonline. org.mt. To report illegal child abuse material visit childwebalert.gov.mt.