The FBI has flagged sextortion as a growing crime. This week, a case appeared at the University of Maryland in College Park.
According to CBS Baltimore, the student was threatened by someone online saying that if he didn’t send money totaling more than $1,000, the person was going to put his naked photos on Facebook. The male student exchanged photos with someone in a chat room, and ended up sending the money. Police said it appeared to originate in the Phillippines.
UMD police issued a warning to students as the case came to light. WUSA9 interviewed students who said they were surprised it was a male student, but the case indicates that the crime doesn’t fit into stereotypes. Baltimore previously saw a sextortion case in its public housing complexes, but the crime has also been spreading on social media. Police nationwide reported a 32 percent increase in reported cases between 2010 and 2013.
