community - 2026-07-13

Police warn Northern Beaches teens after two sextortion scams in a week

Source: www.northernbeachesadvocate.com.au

Northern Beaches police have warned local families about online sextortion scams after two teenage boys were blackmailed within a week. The cases, now under investigation, involved scammers posing as young women online before pressuring the boys into sharing intimate images and then demanding money.

Northern Beaches police have warned local families about online sextortion scams after two teenage boys were blackmailed within a week. The cases, now under investigation, involved scammers posing as young women online before pressuring the boys into sharing intimate images and then demanding money. Northern Beaches Police Area Command said the scams followed a familiar pattern. Contact began as an online romantic or flirtatious exchange, then escalated into sexual conversation and the sharing of explicit material. Once that happened, the scam turned into blackmail, with the victims told their phones had been compromised and the images would be sent to everyone in their contact list unless they paid. In the first case, a 17-year-old boy from Avalon Beach was contacted on Instagram on Friday, 3 July. Police said the person presented as a woman at first, but after the conversation became sexual and the boy sent intimate photos, the scammer revealed he was a man and demanded $500. The teenager was told to pay using an Amazon gift card. That transaction was stopped when Amazon detected something unusual and halted it. Police were then contacted as the scammer continued trying to...