By Gavin Boyle
Internet safety expert Ben Gillenwater explained the methods scammers use to target and exploit young men through sexual harassment and abuse.
“The same people that used to do the Nigerian Prince scams, it’s the same people [doing the sexual exploitation scams]. They’re called the Yahoo Boys. And what they do is they identify weakness in people,” Gillenwater told podcaster Allie Beth Stuckey. “So, teenage boys specifically are targeted for this in particular.”
Gillenwater, known as Family IT Guy online, explained that this Nigerian gang finds a profile of a girl from a nearby town and then will message a boy, pretending to be that girl.
Related: How to Protect Your Child From Sexual Exploitation
“And then, you know, flirting and whatnot. And then, eventually, the girl will send a naked picture. And so, they’ll send a photo to the boy and then, okay, ‘Send one back,’ and then the blackmail begins,” he continued.
Scams like this have proliferated in recent years as bad actors exploit the younger generation through social media. The work done by the Yahoo Boys is just an example of scams carried out across a variety of avenues to target and exploit young men. Another major avenue is through video games and adjacent platforms like Roblox and Discord.
Last summer, a “Spawnism” cult spread through Roblox. It saw young kids performing a variety of shameful acts to receive praise from the Spawnism community. These acts, which were recorded, were then used to blackmail these kids into further acts, including ones that were sexually exploitative.
“Predators are actively encouraging self-harm rituals — like carving cult symbols into skin and webcam-sharing nudity, using it as leverage for blackmail or peer recruitment. Visits to these harmful Roblox servers have surged (12,000–72,000 in two months), with even unconfirmed suicide links reported,” the Safe Screen Campaign in London warned last August. “New laws under the Online Safety Act haven’t prevented this: Ofcom and the National Crime Agency say platform actions have been inadequate.”
Experts continue to warn that these bad actors targeting young men will continue to do so until significant legislature and changes in policy guidelines are taken to protect these vulnerable users. While Roblox has rolled out a major overhaul to its safety guidelines in the past six months or so, it has done little to truly protect its young users.
Ultimately, parents are the best line of defense against these scams. Movieguide® encourages moms and dads to have regular conversations with their kids about the dangers that are out there, as well as about what their children are seeing and experiencing online. Unfortunately, widespread guidelines are not currently in place to protect our children, and it is up to their own discretion to keep them safe.
Read Next: Roblox Makes Shocking Claims About Recent Child Safety Concerns
Questions or comments? Please write to us here.
– Content: +1Share:
– Content: +3