Sextortion Study Shows Men At Higher Risk Of Online Blackmail

Men have been twice as likely as women to fall victim to online blackmail since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, a study published Monday, by the journal Victims & Offenders found.

Photo Insert: The blackmailer often is a current or former partner, but they also can be a stranger who has hacked into a victim's online photos or webcam or an online dating scammer.

This includes threats to publish explicit photos, videos, and personal information, the researchers said, Brian P. Dunleavy reported for United Press International (UPI) on Feb. 1, 2022.

Young people, Black and Native American women, and LGBTQ individuals also were at higher risk for being victims of this form of cyber-crime called "sextortion," the data showed.

"Recent research has highlighted gender disparities in unpaid care work and household-related work since the start of the pandemic," co-author Asia Eaton said. "It is possible that men had more time to spend online than women during the pandemic," said Eaton, an associate professor of psychology at Florida International University in Miami.

The findings are based on a survey of more than 2,000 adults in the United States conducted in 2020 and 2021, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Eaton and her colleagues said.

Sextortion is a form of extortion in which the blackmailer threatens to publish explicit, private images or videos online unless their demands are met, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

The blackmailer often is a current or former partner, but they also can be a stranger who has hacked into a victim's online photos or webcam or an online dating scammer, the law enforcement agency says.

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