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Marketplace - Season 53 Episode 2 -
The Sextortion Network
The Sextortion Network
Category
😹
FunTranscript
00:00The following program contains mature subject matter. Viewer discretion is advised.
00:13It's a scam that targets vulnerable teens.
00:17So she says, wow, you are looking good.
00:20An innocent exchange that leads to sexual extortion.
00:24There is no other scam that involves targeting children, coercing them into a sexually compromising situation.
00:31We find criminals cashing in on fear all the way from Nigeria.
00:36Why you scam people?
00:39It's because you can go out for money.
00:41And uncover the tragic truth of those who lose it all.
00:44The amount of children that have died for this, it makes no sense.
00:49This is your Marketplace.
00:54High up, something like that, yeah.
00:57We're building Instagram profiles.
00:59Yeah, take a couple of it.
01:01That's great.
01:02Going from this.
01:03Now we just have to edit it.
01:05To this.
01:06Looking like the perfect targets.
01:09Young boys.
01:10For an alarming blackmail scheme.
01:13We set up fake names, add photos, and post comments.
01:17Just to make the accounts look lived in.
01:19Follow popular accounts, dating apps, chat networks.
01:23It says follow for more.
01:25Because the scammers look through follower lists to find their victims.
01:29So I have someone following me already.
01:32It's been like seconds.
01:34That's how sextortion begins.
01:36These criminals pose as young girls and lure boys into sending a nude photo.
01:41Then they blackmail them.
01:43Oh, Bella's talking to me.
01:45She says hi.
01:46Bella's now messaging two of our accounts at the same time.
01:50Look at that, just bored.
01:52Can we be friends?
01:54What we're doing is just a test.
01:56We know there are families across Canada living with the brutal reality of sextortion.
02:01We're in Bay Fortune, Prince Edward Island.
02:08Happy birthday, dear Harley.
02:12Happy birthday to you and many more.
02:16Hey, Ryan.
02:18Carleen is wagging your tail while we're singing.
02:20We meet Carl Burke and Barbie Lavers, their 17-year-old son, Harry, a sextortion victim.
02:28Yeah, so this is an area in the house that the boys had confiscated.
02:32It became the man cave.
02:35Harry's presence is felt everywhere.
02:38This is actually Harry's room.
02:40Yeah, so this is where Harry spent his time.
02:43His room, filled with reminders of dreams unrealized.
02:47Those are his military boots that he was using when he was in the reserves.
02:52And I wear them when I'm doing stuff during the day just to feel closer to him, right?
02:58Yeah, absolutely.
02:58Yeah.
02:59Hi, Harry Burke.
03:00He loved being a cadet.
03:03He said, I want to make Canada better.
03:06And this was the way he figured that he could do that.
03:08He was standing right here.
03:09Yeah.
03:09When he told us that.
03:10And I really feel he would have.
03:12But that was taken away.
03:19Harry and I spent that day together.
03:21We had done father-son things.
03:23He tells his dad about a girl he's messaging on Instagram.
03:26Harry had come to me sometime in the afternoon to say he was talking to this girl around his age from Nova Scotia.
03:35And he showed me her picture and it all seemed very real.
03:40But Harry's situation unravels quickly.
03:44He confides in his dad.
03:46That evening, Harry came to me and he said, Dad, I screwed up.
03:50And I said, what do you mean?
03:52And he said, well, I shared pictures.
03:54And he said, they're looking for money.
03:57And I said, we can't send the money, Harry.
04:00I knew what extortion meant.
04:02I said, they'll just keep asking for more.
04:05They call a family meeting.
04:07Harry was sitting right there and I was there.
04:09Barbie was here.
04:10Harry explained to Mom what had happened.
04:12And during that conversation, we were all upset.
04:18And Barbie actually got a message.
04:23On Instagram from the same person.
04:28This individual that said, I'm going to destroy him.
04:32And I wish Harry had never seen the message.
04:36They make a plan to call police in the morning.
04:40Harry's parents don't know he's still being hounded well into the night.
04:45The scammer sends his photo to other cadets and threatens to send it to his commanding officer.
04:51In Harry's mind, he figured everything that he had worked so hard for was gone.
04:56He figured this would interfere with his chances within the PEI regiment to go to the Royal Military
05:03College and become an officer.
05:06I just feel so...
05:09He was sitting in the garage.
05:11And I said, what are you doing?
05:13And he said, oh, I'm just writing some thoughts.
05:16And I didn't ask him what he was writing.
05:18Try to be respectful.
05:21But it wasn't uncommon for Harry to journal.
05:24He did do that.
05:25So we talked for a minute.
05:28And I went to the door.
05:30And I turned around and I said, I love you, Harry.
05:32He said, I love you, Mom.
05:35He was writing his note.
05:38I didn't ask him what he was writing, if I had asked him.
05:45So there's a lot of blame, self-blame that we have.
05:47We don't blame each other, but it's the guilt that we carry every day.
05:53Harry dies by suicide, less than 12 hours after connecting with his scammer.
06:01In Canada, since 2021, there's Daniel Lintz from Manitoba.
06:05Adortion is on the rise, with Canada's child exploitation tip line, CyberTip, telling us it receives 50 to 80 reports a week.
06:13While girls are targeted, too, 85% of victims are boys.
06:18And Harry is one of more than 50 boys across North America, Australia, and the UK who have died by suicide.
06:25In Canada, since 2021, there's Daniel Lintz from Manitoba.
06:32William Dwaran from New Brunswick.
06:36Carson Cleland from Northern B.C.
06:39And this 14-year-old from Southern B.C.
06:42These are just the reported tragedies.
06:45Experts warn the unreported cases could be much higher.
06:48I think this is the worst scam in the world.
06:55Paul Raphael is a cybercrime analyst and leading expert on sextortion.
06:59There's no other scam that I think even compares to this.
07:03Paul's poured through hundreds of conversations with sextorters.
07:07We ask him to analyze ours.
07:10Yeah, so interestingly enough, I have actually seen this profile picture before using the name Bella.
07:15Yes, and this, with 100% certainty, is a sextorter.
07:20Because look at that.
07:21She kept pushing us off Instagram.
07:24So these criminals very quickly try to take their targets to usually an encrypted messaging platform
07:30to try to make sure that their Instagram account doesn't get banned immediately.
07:35This scammer, Bella, does exactly that.
07:38So she says, wow, you are looking good.
07:41The replies keep coming.
07:43Can we have some fun?
07:44And then, she says, show me your d**k and I will send you my full naked video in return.
07:52We're not going to do that.
07:54I think we're going to have to shut this one down.
07:56Yeah.
07:56The conversations get explicit.
07:59In just 24 hours, seven separate accounts ask us for news.
08:05Later, in a stunning twist, another scammer messages us.
08:09He grabs our headshot, alters it with an intimate image to sextort us.
08:16Answer me right now.
08:17Four, five.
08:18He's running a countdown.
08:19Demands a $50 gift card.
08:21Don't try me.
08:22Angry face.
08:24He's threatening to post the picture online.
08:27How much you have in cash or bank?
08:30Answer me.
08:31Then, he calls us.
08:34Hello?
08:38I don't have any money.
08:44How can I pay you?
08:46I don't have...
08:47You hung up?
08:48When he calls again, we reveal who we are.
08:51Listen, my name is Asha Tomlinson.
08:54I'm a journalist with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in Toronto.
09:00We know that you're sextorting us.
09:03This was a fake profile.
09:05He hung up.
09:07As for Bella, she leaves a clue about her real identity when she texts us from a Nigerian number.
09:13So we call.
09:14What's your name?
09:15My name is John.
09:16Okay, and so you had the profile set up as Bella, right?
09:22Yeah.
09:23I'm just...
09:23What do you want to pick up?
09:25I guess I'm just trying to understand why you scam people.
09:30Is it because people don't have money?
09:32You don't have money?
09:34Yeah.
09:35We know a lot of the financial sextortion scams right now are coming from West Africa, specifically Nigeria.
09:41In fact, most Canadian deaths have links to Nigeria.
09:44This isn't just a public safety emergency, but this is also a national security emergency, too.
09:53Coming up, we confront one of the Yahoo boys.
09:57So you don't ever wonder if the person on the other end is suffering because of the scamming that you've done.
10:04The following program contains mature subject matter.
10:14Viewer discretion is advised.
10:15It's a scheme that lures Canadian teens.
10:23They don't just target one person at any given time.
10:25They target as many people as they can reach out to.
10:29Into sending compromising photos.
10:31Then those images are used for blackmail.
10:34We create fake profiles and seven scammers ask us to send nudes in just 24 hours.
10:42Predators can reel kids in within minutes and some, once they're in it, feel there's no way out.
10:48In Prince George, British Columbia, Ryan Cleland and his daughter Michaela are still trying to make sense of it all.
11:00I had spoken with Carson about sextortion online and what to do if it happens.
11:05Ryan wonders how his fun-loving, caring 12-year-old boy Carson got caught up in the unthinkable.
11:12How did that conversation go?
11:14It was awkward.
11:16Very awkward.
11:18He said, if you ever send somebody a picture of your penis, God, I wouldn't.
11:22I said, well, just, if you do, and they want money, just come get me.
11:29Don't send money.
11:30Don't panic.
11:31Don't freak out.
11:32Come get me.
11:32We'll deal with it.
11:33In October 2023, Carson meets who he thinks is a girl on Snapchat.
11:39They start chatting in the morning.
11:41During their conversation, Carson sends a nude photo.
11:46He knew what to do.
11:48He just couldn't think past his fear.
11:50After just 12 hours, Carson takes his own life.
11:55He just, he just panicked.
11:59Recalling that day, Ryan says Carson left school early, telling his sister he wasn't feeling well.
12:04I only just found out that Carson actually went to the store that day and bought a gift card and sent it to them.
12:12So he did pay the scam.
12:13He's 25 f***ing olders.
12:18In search of answers, Carson's sister, Michaela, decides to read the police report.
12:30He actually did go to the store and buy a gift card.
12:33They used it.
12:34And then, like, said that it didn't work.
12:37And to buy another one.
12:38He had obviously gotten, like, a lot more, like, scared and, like, kind of frantic with the way he was responding and stuff.
12:45Did you get a sense of the pressure building for him?
12:50Yeah, you could definitely tell how, like, scared and, like, kind of, like, stressed out he was getting and, like, get a sense of how he would have felt through those messages when you can really see them.
12:59It's definitely the hardest part about that.
13:03But he didn't know what to do.
13:06He's just a boy.
13:09And that's an adult problem.
13:12That's why they pick on the kids.
13:14That's why they look for them.
13:16They're easy targets.
13:17Carson wasn't the only one victimized.
13:22Some of his classmates were also targeted at this school.
13:30In blackmailing BM, we discover dozens of online groups sharing strategies and inside information on what's known as the BM scam, which stands for blackmail.
13:41Let's go in there and check that group out.
13:43We enter their forums undercover to see how they recruit new scammers.
13:48Right there, he's saying it's blackmailing.
13:52He's admitting what he's doing.
13:53They call themselves the Yahoo Boys, and they're based in Nigeria, showing off the money they make on social media.
14:02So your deal with him is to take 70% of his salary.
14:05That's how BM works.
14:07Like, the client must keep paying every month.
14:10We find a Yahoo Boy willing to talk.
14:13We're not revealing his identity because he fears for his safety.
14:17At first, he denies being involved in the BM scam.
14:21But then?
14:22I'm just wondering if you've run the BM scam before.
14:25Yeah, most times.
14:26Not every time.
14:28Not every time?
14:29Yes.
14:30He's based in Lagos, a hotbed for cybercrime.
14:33Well, I would say it's very big.
14:35Very, very large.
14:37It's very hard to find a job.
14:38So I just need something to survive.
14:41So you don't ever wonder if the person on the other end is suffering because of the scamming that you've done?
14:49Yeah, let me just, I don't know what to answer to that.
14:54We also speak with a man who's left that life behind.
14:57I felt so bad after what I've done.
15:00I felt so bad.
15:01He wants to remain anonymous because of security risks.
15:05In my case, I wanted to go to the realm, you know, of becoming a billionaire.
15:10But then you have to be diabolic.
15:13He says he was a Yahoo boy for a decade before the BM scam gained traction.
15:19Now, he says he's a pastor, warning young Nigerian men about the dangers.
15:24Do you think that they know that, that they're driving some people to kill themselves because they've been scammed?
15:31So many of those people, they've sold their soul to the devil.
15:35They don't care.
15:39Coming up, we put the pressure on the Minister of Justice.
15:43We spoke to the families of two teen boys who took their lives.
15:47They feel like there's been no real action from government.
15:51What is your message to them?
15:59The following program contains mature subject matter.
16:03Viewer discretion is advised.
16:09Families broken.
16:11Your heart hurts so bad.
16:13By a financial scam that manipulates boys into sharing nude photographs.
16:18And then they're blackmailed.
16:19Just pay me $50.
16:22They fine them on social media.
16:24Coerce them on messaging apps.
16:26You got Telegram?
16:27Applying pressure until they break.
16:30Some have taken their lives.
16:32And now their parents want accountability.
16:36Cybercrime expert Paul Raphael says it's on social media companies to act.
16:40We know that the primary source of leverage that these criminals use is the followers' lists.
16:47The moment that a victim accepts a criminal's follow request, their entire social network is compromised.
16:52Ultimately, it comes down to a fake account problem.
16:55And platforms are very resistant to block or prevent the creation of new fake accounts.
17:00We reach out to the platforms.
17:03They all say sexual exploitation is against their terms of use.
17:07They remove accounts when users report it and proactively look for bad actors.
17:13Meta and Snapchat add they do work with law enforcement and send pop-up warnings about suspicious accounts.
17:19TikTok says teens under 16 don't have access to direct messaging.
17:24And Telegram makes it a point to say it is impossible for any platform to remove all criminal content.
17:32Carl says that's not good enough.
17:35The only way they'll ever change and do enough is if they're forced into doing it.
17:40Our lives will never be the same.
17:41And it sickens me, the attention that social media has given it, which is nothing.
17:48Absolutely nothing.
17:50It's like your kids don't matter.
17:52We look at an empty chair and an empty bed and our son is in an urn beside our bed.
17:58That's where our boy is, forever.
18:01They want the government to step in.
18:05Earlier this year, Prime Minister Mark Carney campaigns on better protecting kids from online harm.
18:11My government will act to protect children online and bring those who seek to harm them to justice.
18:17And the man in charge of fulfilling those promises?
18:21Justice Minister Sean Fraser.
18:23For weeks, we try to get an on-camera interview.
18:26He finally agrees to talk to us over the phone.
18:30Minister Fraser, good to talk to you.
18:32Thanks very much for reaching out.
18:34The Liberal government committed to protecting youth online.
18:38They've campaigned on it as well.
18:39You've been in office for six months.
18:42What's happening?
18:42We will be moving forward with legislation to modify the criminal justice system in a number of ways,
18:49designed to help protect kids online.
18:52In particular, you should expect to see the first steps taken in the fall sitting.
18:58We spoke to the families of Carson Cleland and Harry Burke,
19:03two teen boys who took their lives after being sextorted.
19:07They feel like there's been no real action from government.
19:12They want to see it.
19:13What is your message to them?
19:16Dealing with the loss of a child is the most profound grief that a family can experience.
19:22We want to do what we can as a federal government to change the laws where they are not working.
19:29What people should expect to see, in short order, is new criminal legislation that's going to address child luring,
19:37that's going to address non-consensual sharing of intimate images, of deep fakes,
19:41that's going to specifically address online sexploitation and extortion of kids,
19:47in addition to new tools that we want to give to law enforcement to prevent this crime.
19:53In the meantime, victims are finding support in each other.
19:57I was in that suicidal state of mind.
20:00We're hiding this young man's identity to protect him from being re-victimized.
20:05We're calling him Kyle.
20:06The difference was maybe I didn't have the capability of doing something to myself, but other people do.
20:12When Kyle is sextorted in 2021, he goes to a dark place,
20:17but finds his way out by helping other victims in a Reddit community.
20:21I would check in with them daily, especially with the people who were suicidal.
20:26I'm like, I want you to check in with me every hour on the hour.
20:30He has this advice for those going through it now.
20:33I know it's hard at first. I was there, calmed down, realized that this is very insignificant.
20:40Even if it had your face, there is someone who would care enough to understand.
20:47Carl is also finding purpose in his community.
20:50We didn't know anything about it through the school system or through any sort of police involvement.
20:56He's speaking to schools across PEI, raising awareness.
21:00I've spoken to over 5,000 children so far, and the kids, they come to talk to me.
21:06They come in groups. They come in pairs. They come one at a time.
21:12They're tearful. They're heartfelt. They want a hug.
21:16They thank me for what they've learned.
21:19And the stuff I'm talking about, they knew nothing about.
21:22I do it because of Harry. I don't want his name forgotten.
21:25Next week, we're overseas, inside a fraud factory.
21:41I was assigned as your financial advisor.
21:44Thousands of recordings leaked, capturing scammers in action.
21:48We're going to make a lot of money together.
21:50And targeting unsuspecting Canadians.
21:52I was stupid to go there, but they are good.
21:57Fraudsters who are fearless, even when confronted.
22:00You're a liar.
22:02But I'm really good at it, right?
22:04We join forces with Enquête to ask who or what will stop them.
22:10If there's someone who could fix this is Prime Minister Mark Carney.
22:14Why is it still happening?
22:16Next week, on Your Marketplace.
22:18We'll be right back to you.
22:28Thanks for listening.
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