Sean Lyons: Netsafe Chief Online Safety Officer raises concerns over the impact of sextortion

The alarm's being raised on sextortion, and ways young people can get help.

A Coroner's found an 18-year-old took his life hours after sharing intimate images with someone pretending to be a young Timaru woman.

The scammer - who was later traced to Africa - demanded $5000 and threatened to share their conversation.

Netsafe's Chief Online Safety Officer Sean Lyons says young people should ask parents or others for support.

He says the last thing they should do is hide it.

"Because it is that shame, it is that horror that's on many young people - and specifically, the young and their vulnerability."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Together do for c Ellen.

Speaker 2 (00:02):
Net SAF is warning us that we are facing an
epidemic of sex stortion in this country now. The warning
comes after the release of a coroner's report that has
revealed that a South Island teenager took his own life
just hours after scammers threatened to leak his intimate images.
Netsafe's Chief online Safety Officer, Sean Lyons is with us.

Speaker 1 (00:19):
Hi, Sean, Hi, there are you doing well?

Speaker 3 (00:21):
Thank you? How often is this happening?

Speaker 1 (00:25):
It's hard to say across the country. We know from
what we are reported. You know, we see somewhere doing
seven and ten reports of this kind of thing each day.
So and because of the kind of shame and embarrassment
that goes with this particular type of harm, we imagine
that's probably quite widely underreported.

Speaker 3 (00:44):
Okay, so these guys are doing it for financial gain,
are they?

Speaker 1 (00:48):
Yeah? Largely for financial game. That there are those that
are doing it for the gain of more material, more content.
So there are some where the payoff might be to
produce another image or another video, but there is a
large amount of that is direct financial game.

Speaker 3 (01:03):
Sean, tell me if I'm naive and maybe just old fashioned,
but it seems to me, the only way to avoid
this is not to put your nerdy pictures on the
internet in any way.

Speaker 1 (01:14):
That is one kind of school of thought, but I
think increasingly as we see what technology can do in
terms of the production of high quality image and video,
then then even that to some extent becomes less of
a defense. I mean, you're totally right. If there was
never an image of you in theory, that can never
be an actual image of you shared. But if there's

(01:35):
a picture of you in any other circumstances, somebody is
choosing to manipulate that image and turn it into something
that might cause you some harm, then then that's a
possibility that faces individuals too.

Speaker 2 (01:45):
So so about that, Sean, don't we if that's what's
going to happen, If they're going to take you know,
I don't know, let's use me as an example to
take my.

Speaker 3 (01:52):
Face and create some porn with that. There's nothing I
can do. I just have to live with it, don't I.

Speaker 1 (01:57):
What we can do is is not be part to
what it is that they're trying to do. What we
really need to do is make sure that individuals don't
feel so shamed and embarrassed that they go along with
what it is that that that the cameras are asking
them to do, that we don't allow that degree of
manipulation to go on, that we don't allow their extra
harm to carry on for people. And a lot of

(02:18):
that about making sure we talk about the shame and
embarrassment that goes with it.

Speaker 2 (02:22):
Parents who are worried about their kids getting caught up
in the stuff in the age of AI and social media,
do you what do the parents say to.

Speaker 1 (02:27):
The kids right now? Go to them and tell them
that if this, if they do get caught up in this,
that they understand what's happening, that it can happen for
multiple reasons, and the last thing in the world they
need to do is try and hide it and deal
with it on their own. That their parents are there,
they understand that, they get it, that they shouldn't be embarrassed,
and they're going to help them to deal with it
because it is that shame. It is that that that

(02:48):
horror that bears down on many young people and people
older people too. If this happens to people of all ages,
but specifically the young and their vulnerability, making sure that
they know that they've got some to go and Nobody
is going to question, no one's to judge them for
what they've done. They're just going to help them to
deal with it.

Speaker 3 (03:06):
Just very good parenting advice, full stop, I think, Sean.
Thank you very much. Sean Lyon's net Safe Chief Online
Safety Officer.

Speaker 2 (03:12):
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