Fact: The consequences for children who are exposed
Children who are subjected to sexual blackmail for financial purposes are affected in different ways, according to Ecpat.
The most common consequences are one or more of the following:
Relationships with friends, family and/or partner are negatively affected
Feeling of shame and suicidality
Threats of suicide
Stops going to school
Mental illness
Economic loss
Source: Ecpat
Since Ecpat in 2022 noticed an increase in the number of children contacting their helpline and telling about similar experiences, the organization decided to delve into the subject.
The deepening resulted in the study “Then ‘she’ took a screen and everything began”, which is based on both girls’ and boys’ stories. It shows that boys are particularly vulnerable to crime – and that the number of cases has increased in recent years.
That mainly boys are affected is because they are easier prey than girls, says Anna Karin Hildingson Boqvist, Ecpat’s general secretary, who links it to male norms.
“A boy who receives a nude picture from a girl or a woman should appreciate it and send a picture back,” she says.
— Girls are also exposed, but then the approach looks different. Rather, they are pressured into more nude pictures, she continues.
Similar approach
The approach is often the same.
The perpetrators, who often pretend to be a girl of the same age, initiate contact with the boys, sometimes as young as 10, via one of the major social media platforms.
They send nude photos to the boys early on and encourage them to do the same. Once the boys have been persuaded, often after nagging, the situation quickly escalates.
The perpetrators pressure the boys for money – in many cases thousands of kroner – and threaten to spread the material further if they do not pay.
Regardless of whether the boys pay or not, the material almost always ends up being spread.
Organized crime
In December 2022, the FBI issued a national warning in the United States about an increase in the number of crimes against children and young people in which they are pressured for money in order not to have their nude photos spread.
In its mapping of the perpetrators, the FBI concluded that they often had links to organized crime based in countries such as the Ivory Coast, Morocco, the Philippines and Nigeria.
— When we talk to children and young people, we see that their experiences follow the same pattern, so we have every reason to believe that it is the same perpetrator who is behind the cases in Sweden, says Hildingson Boqvist, and gives, among other things, examples of communication taking place in English and that the money is paid via international payment methods.
Anna Karin Hildingson Boqvist urges parents to talk to their children about the risks that exist online, especially if the children are boys.
“When it comes to exposure to sexual abuse and sexual exploitation, parents are generally not as worried about boys as they are about girls,” she says.