6 hours ago
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Students are being warned: Swipe right and you might get blackmailed.
Creeps posing as flirty singles on dating apps are duping victims — especially students — into sending X-rated pics, only to turn around and demand cash, say UK fraud experts.
As reported by BBC, Annya Burksys, head of fraud at Nationwide, Britain’s biggest building society, called the AI-aided scams “efficient and unrelenting.”
She warned that “sextortion” schemes have become “commonplace” among students.
Sextortion, the shady tactic, uses bots or fake profiles to woo victims into sharing intimate images — and then threatens to leak them unless a ransom is paid.
Tracking these lowlifes isn’t easy — most cases vanish without a trace or never get reported at all.
Still, a Nationwide survey found 28% of students have already been duped, and half are sweating they’ll be next.
As per the BBC, Jim Winters, economic crime head at Nationwide, warned Gen Z students to keep their clothes — and their camera rolls — on lock, especially when chatting up strangers online.
“Blackmail is one of the hardest things to face and it’s happening more often. It’s not easy but if something doesn’t feel right, speak up,” he warned.
Winters acknowledged it might be tempting to hit send in the heat of the moment — but once that pic is out there, he warned, you’ve lost control for good.
Winters laid out some street-smart tips for spotting a digital con: Watch for wonky phrases that don’t match what you’ve said — classic bot behavior.
You can also run profile pics through a reverse image search to sniff out stock photo imposters.
And if something feels off, don’t go it alone or “suffer in silence,” he said — show the messages to a friend before things spiral.
Above all, if you’re being blackmailed, he advises not to stay quiet — but to report it and get help.
As The Post reported last month, four West African creeps were busted in a vile “sextortion” scheme that led to a California teen’s tragic death, the DOJ said.
17-year-old Ryan Last, a high school senior, took his own life in 2022 — just hours after sending nudes to a scammer posing as a flirty 20-something woman who then threatened to expose him if he didn’t cough up the cash.
Last’s heartbreaking death lit the fuse on a global manhunt — unraveling a twisted sextortion ring that preyed on “thousands of victims,” including kids, across the US, Canada, the UK, France, Spain and Italy, feds said.
So before you bare all for that too-good-to-be-true hottie online — ask yourself: is it love, or just a lurid scam with a sinister script?
English (US)