December 10, 2024
Bill Streicher/USA Today Network
Philadelphia 76ers rookie guard Jared McCain has partnered with Instagram on a campaign to educate people about sextortion and how they can protect themselves online.
Years before dazzling NBA fans, Sixers rookie Jared McCain built a big following on social media by posting videos of his infectiously upbeat dance moves. With millions of followers on Instagram and TikTok, McCain is now using his platform to promote online safety and educate people about sextortion.
On Monday, McCain posted a video on Instagram talking about the ways scammers intimidate victims by threatening to expose their nude photos unless they send money or comply with other demands. The video is part of a campaign Instagram launched to raise awareness of sextortion, which often targets minors and young adults on social media.
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"Sextortion is when you ask somebody for nude photos or videos and then they blackmail you," McCain said in the video. "Sometimes people even catfish you and pretend to be someone they aren't to get you to send nudes and demand you send them money."
From October 2021 to March 2023, the FBI and Homeland Security Investigations received over 13,000 reports of sextortion against minors, particularly targeting boys between 14 and 17 years old, the FBI's Philadelphia field office said Tuesday. These cases led to at least 20 suicides, the two agencies said. Investigators find that many scammers work together to target thousands of victims, often acting across state lines and from overseas.
Meta, Instagram's parent company, said it chose to work with McCain and other influential voices as a way to reach a wide audience of young people who look up to them. McCain's breakout rookie season for the Sixers has drawn more attention to his dancing and eccentricities — including his black polished fingernails — on his social media accounts. He's talked openly about learning how to deal with hateful messages he gets online and how to confidently navigate the pitfalls of social media.
For its campaign on sextortion, Instagram also partnered with influencers Brent Rivera and Bella Poarch to make videos similar to McCain's. The app also plans to work with creators who have large followings among parents to give tips on how to talk to their kids and keep them safe.
One of the key messages about combatting sextortion is that people targeted by these scams shouldn't feel embarrassed to report predators to social media apps and police. Removing the stigma surrounding sextortion allows the apps and law enforcement to prevent further victimization.
McCain explains in his video that there are a number of red flags that point to sextortion. Getting follows and direct message requests from strangers should be viewed with caution, and it should also be concerning when these accounts aggressively seek nude photos in messages. Scammers may share their own nudes first as enticement, but these photos often are not legitimate. Some may even be AI-generated. It's also a common tactic for scammers to try to quickly move the conversation off the app to text messages, email and video chat platforms that make it easier for them to capture nude images and videos.
"The most important thing to remember is that it's not your fault," McCain said. "You are not alone and you will get through it. Just stop responding to these scammers. Don't pay them. Block the scammer and report the chat to Instagram. They can look into and help make sure these scammers' accounts get removed."
Meta is rolling out a number of new features on Instagram and Facebook to prevent sextortion, in addition to new teen accounts that come with built-in protections and content restrictions.
Many scammers use lists of followers on accounts to find their targets. Instagram will now restrict suspicious accounts from having access to these lists, and the accounts also will be prevented from seeing lists of accounts that have liked someone’s posts and photos in which they’ve been tagged.
For another new feature, Instagram plans to start blocking screenshots and recordings of images from within private messages on mobile devices. The mobile app already has "view once" and "allow replay" features that help manage access to photos. These features will no longer be available on web versions of Instagram to prevent scammers from using desktop methods to take screenshots.
For accounts held by minors, a nudity protection feature also will become a default setting in direct messages. Any nude photos sent and received will be blurred, and a message will appear warning about the risks of sending such images.
People who have had their nude photos shared online also have resources they can use to get them removed. The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) has a free service, Take It Down, that helps pull sexually explicit images from the internet and prevents them from being further shared.
The FBI's Philadelphia field office said education is key to protecting people from sextortion.
"We implore parents, educators, caregivers, and children to learn more about the steps they can take to protect themselves and their loved ones from this deplorable crime, as well as support victims in coming forward," FBI special agent in charge Wayne A. Jacobs said in a statement.
If you or someone you know believes that they are a victim of sextortion, police urge that these crimes immediately be reported to law enforcement. Reports can be made to the FBI by calling 1-800-CALL-FBI or visiting tips.fbi.gov.
