“If you don’t give me what I want by 7:00, everyone will see these.” It is not unusual to hear about people who have been contacted online by anonymous users who blackmail victims with the threat of revealing private photos or videos. In fact, this type of extortion has become so common it now has its own name: sextortion.
One of the most widely talked about cases in recent years was Amanda Todd, a 15-year-old who committed suicide in 2012. Todd was blackmailed by someone she had met in a chat room. This person allegedly convinced her to film herself topless and later used photos from that webcam to force her to continue to send revealing videos. Prior to her death, Todd filmed a video using flash cards explaining what had happened to her. The video went viral, resulting in national media attention.
Marshfield graduate Olivia Gutierrez was recently a victim of blackmail. She was contacted through Instagram by an anonymous user asking for a gift card with the threat of revealing nude photos of her by posting them on the profile and sending them to her friends and family.
“I told him to do whatever he wanted because I knew that I didn’t have any nudes out there,” Gutierrez said.
Gutierrez said she was shocked when he then sent her multiple nude photos of herself.
“I couldn’t believe it. These were photos that were taken of me without my knowledge,” Gutierrez said. “I was so upset because I knew people wouldn’t believe that I hadn’t taken them or they would say that I deserved this for not being careful.”
According to Gutierrez, the photos were taken while she was undressing in the hotel room she was sharing with a group of family friends while on vacation.
“The people I was staying with in the hotel had brought another friend with them so I immediately suspected that he was behind the account,” Gutierrez said.
Gutierrez contacted the Coos Bay Police Department. After she told the police who she suspected, they contacted the alleged blackmailer and told him to delete all the photos. Gutierrez has not been contacted by this account again. Due to the angle of the photos, Gutierrez believes they were taken by a cellphone hidden in the bottom drawer of the bathroom vanity.
Coos Bay police officer Mark Wheeling said these kinds of cases are rare. However, he has seen an increase over the past 10 years. He said this may be due to the increased use of social media.
“Some people don’t understand that this is a crime and an invasion of privacy,” Wheeling said.
Online blackmailers can be prosecuted under the same laws prohibiting extortion. Offenders could even face child pornography charges if the victim is under 18. If found guilty of the charges, it could lead to an arrest or a referral to a juvenile detention center. However, because of fear of the photos getting out, many do not report the crimes to the authorities and simply do what is asked of them.
According to Wheeling, the best way to avoid becoming a victim of extortion is to not have anything you would not want other people to see.
“Even if you’re only sending them to one person, nine times out of 10 those photographs end up somewhere else,” Wheeling said. “I’ve seen cases where a person has had these photos in their cell phone and someone will pick it up, scroll through the photos and send them to themselves or to a friend.”
Gutierrez said she is no longer ashamed of what happened to her and wants to encourage other victims to report these crimes and speak out against it.
“You hear about things like this happening all the time,” Gutierrez said. “You never think that this could ever happen to you.”