sextortion
sextortion – sostantivo non numerabile
webcam blackmail – sostantivo non numerabile
The shocking rise of ‘sextortion’ crime is laid bare today as police reveal the number of cases has doubled in a year.
Police have revealed an unprecedented rise in the new crime of webcam blackmail – known as ‘sextortion’ – with more than 900 cases reported so far this year.
According to TrendMicro, a Japanese sextortion gang stole at least ¥3.5 million ($29,204.88) from 22 victims between December 2013 and January 2014.
Il ricatto, uno dei reati più antichi, nell’era di internet ha assunto una forma particolarmente odiosa. Stiamo parlando di sextortion, l’estorsione a sfondo sessuale anche detta in inglese webcam blackmail, che ha conosciuto di recente un vero e proprio boom. Le vittime sono perlopiù giovani uomini, anche se il fenomeno sembra non conoscere barriere di genere o età, che vengono convinti da un fantomatico profilo social di una presunta bellezza (magari straniera) a fare pratiche erotico-sessuali davanti alla webcam. Il filmato diventa l’arma del ricatto: paga o diffondiamo le immagini tra i tuoi amici e familiari e su internet.
Così come altri fenomeni criminali in rete, la sextortion è un’attività globalizzata con gang che operano da Paesi diversi come il Marocco, le Filippine e la Costa d’Avorio. Il fenomeno in Italia è cresciuto in maniera esponenziale tanto che la Polizia Postale ha preparato un video per mettere in guardia gli internauti meno accorti.
Origini del termine
Sextortion nasce dalla fusione di sex (o sexual) ed extortion e nonostante il termine sia in circolazione dagli anni ’50, la frequenza d’uso nel significato allargato è aumentata di pari passo alla crescita dei social network e delle app di messaggistica istantanea.
sextortion – noun U
webcam blackmail – noun U
The shocking rise of ‘sextortion’ crime is laid bare today as police reveal the number of cases has doubled in a year.
Police have revealed an unprecedented rise in the new crime of webcam blackmail – known as ‘sextortion’ – with more than 900 cases reported so far this year.
According to TrendMicro, a Japanese sextortion gang stole at least ¥3.5 million ($29,204.88) from 22 victims between December 2013 and January 2014.
Blackmail is one of the oldest crimes in the book, but a nasty new form of it has been garnering headlines. Recent years have seen an explosion in cases of the crime of sextortion or webcam blackmail. The victims, overwhelmingly young men though both sexes and all ages have been targeted, are induced by a persuasive and attractive social media contact to engage in sexual acts which are captured on film. The victim is then blackmailed with the threat that the film will be sent to their friends and family and broadcast on the internet.
Like so much e-crime, sextortion is global in nature, with much of it carried out by gangs operating as far afield as Morocco, the Philippines and the Ivory Coast. The rise in the incidence of the crime has led the UK’s National Crime Agency to release a film that warns people to take more care before stripping off on camera and online.
Origins
Sextortion is a blend of the words sex (or sexual) and extortion, while webcam blackmail is a straightforward compound made up of two nouns. While the term sextortion appeared as early as the 1950s, its wider use has accompanied the rise of social media over the past decade.
