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The FBI has recruited a popular YouTube doctor to talk about internet blackmailers targeting children.
The FBI has opened a new front in the fight to keep children safe online – YouTube.
More specifically, an FBI agent appeared as a guest of popular YouTuber Doctor Mike to talk about the dangers children face online. In fact, the FBI reached out to the YouTuber, who immediately invited supervisory special agent Brenda Born onto his show.
“The FBI actually contacted me about doing a video on the subject,” said Doctor Mike – actual physician Mikhail “Mike” Varshavski – in the video’s introduction. “And I found it so important that we invited agent Born right to our studio in New York to talk through actionable steps of keeping yourself and our children safe from threats hiding in every corner online.”
It’s not a bad platform to get the message out. Doctor Mike’s YouTube channel has more than 11 million subscribers, and his videos regularly peak at over 1 million views. He certainly has a dedicated following – this reporter’s flatmate included.
Agent Born immediately gets into some gruesome details, explaining that the FBI has seen 6,000 children become victims of internet blackmail between October 2021 and March 2023, with many more cases very likely unreported.
“I can’t even begin to guess. I would imagine a lot, this is … Online blackmail with kids is something very difficult for them to report,” agent Born said when asked about unreported cases of blackmail. “They’re embarrassed, they’re ashamed. They just want it to end.”
“And so, that is the ones that we know about for sure. But there are a lot that go unreported.”
How child blackmail works
While agent Born is talking about numbers and incidents in the US, the problem is a global one, and her breakdown of how the blackmailers operate is as valid in the US as it is here in Australia. According to agent Born, blackmailers tend to start out pretending to be a child of a similar age.
“They’re sharing photos, sharing videos – I’m just like you. Looking at their social media account, friending their friends, getting to be able to infiltrate their circle of trust,” agent Born said.
“And then, they get to the point where they able to get that image or video.”
There are two main types of child blackmailers. The first, or more traditional motive, is to get more images or videos. They are, in effect, in it for the content and will attempt to maintain contact.
“So they’re gonna try and prolong that as much as they can with that victim because they really wanna keep that person sending them the material that they want,” agent Born said.
The other kind of blackmailer is motivated by money and is a more recent breed. The minute they receive that first image or video, they threaten to share the content unless they get paid – in cash, gift cards, or whatever. It’s all financially motivated.
There also seems to be a gender preference depending on the blackmailer’s motive. Boys tend to be the victims of financial blackmail, while girls tend to be the victims of more traditional blackmailers.
And worryingly, agent Born has noticed a worrying trend – the victims are getting younger, driven by the fact that children are getting access to internet-connected devices at ever younger ages.
“I think, anywhere that a kid is online,” Agent Born said, “whether it’s their iPad, their phone, their gaming console, anywhere that they’re online, there’s a child predator”.
The full video is well worth a watch, and this only covers the first seven minutes out of the 40-plus minute runtime. Grim viewing, but important.
David Hollingworth has been writing about technology for over 20 years, and has worked for a range of print and online titles in his career. He is enjoying getting to grips with cyber security, especially when it lets him talk about Lego.
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