What Do Sextortionists Look for In Victims?

In today’s world, sextortion and social media go hand in hand, with criminals fishing the web to find victim after victim.  Once these criminals catch their prey, things will take a drastic turn for the worst.  It makes it hard to believe there is a way out of it. In this article we’ll discover What Do Sextortionists Look for In Victims.

Sextortionists can be vicious criminals with unpredictable actions, that view their victims as cash pigs or banks rather than people. Although, these criminals can be quite unpredictable, their plan of attack usually stays consistent. In this article, we will discuss what sextortionists look for in their victims and how you can avoid their bait.

Sextortionists follow a plan of attack in order to get as many victims as possible. That plan consists of creating fake social media accounts and adding hundreds of people, in hopes of luring them in with their flirtatious talk. In short, these criminals do not discriminate when it comes to a potential victim, anyone can be their next target.

What Do Sextortionists Look for In Victims?

Although that may be the case, there are a few things that will catch the eye of a sextortionist and make them more willing to approach you.

• Public profile.

Having a public profile can grant a suspect easy access into your account and your information. Criminals prefer approaching public accounts because they don’t have to wait for you to accept their friend request.

• Fancy posts

A profile containing flashy cars, clothes, or even money can attract the attention of a sextortionist and give them the impression that you have money to steal.

• Fast replies

Suspects look for people who are going to reply to them quickly. They do not want to waste their time waiting for someone to reply to their messages.

 How Can You Avoid Their Radar?

Keeping their strategy in mind. The best possible way of avoiding becoming a victim of online sextortion is to be aware of who you speak to online. Here are some tips to take into account if you want to keep yourself safer online.

• Strong privacy settings on all of your social media platforms
• Limit the amount of personal information you post on your profile
• Do not accept friend requests from strangers or accounts that look sketchy
• If you are wanting to meet new people and are willing to accept new friend requests, be super cautious of the information you share with strangers
• When approached by a stranger on the internet, scope their profile to see if anything seems strange
• Quality of photos
• Number of photos or posts
• When the account was created
• Lastly, DO NOT send any explicit content to anyone online
• If a person you are messaging online asks for explicit content, say no immediately and end the conversation there

What do I do if I am a victim of sextortion?

As a result of the believable accounts used by criminals in sextortion on facebook, or instagram sextortion it can be hard to identify a potential suspect, which unfortunately results in many victims.

We hope this article has given you some helpful tips you can put to use when engaging with strangers online. So you can avoid becoming a victim yourself.

If you or someone you know is a victim of sextortion and needs help, contact our sextortion helpline who are available to you 24/7 and ready to ease the burden.