Crime gangs use bots to lure young men into sextortion scams

Criminal gangs are using artificial intelligence to create attractive fake online characters and lure young Australian men into sextortion schemes, according to police and online-safety authorities.

South Australia Police received reports from 220 male victims of image-based abuse and sextortion in the last financial year, compared with 170 in the previous period. Financial losses reached $217,000 in 2025-26. Police said a small number of incidents significantly influenced the total, including one case involving a $53,000 extortion payment.

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These offenders deliberately exploit fear, embarrassment and urgency, and we want victims to know they should not give in to those demands.

Male victims, most of them younger than 25, made up 75 percent of sextortion reports to South Australian police. Nationally, men represented almost 90 percent of sextortion victims, although women were twice as likely to experience image-based abuse overall.

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Financial sexual extortion often targets young men, with criminals tricking victims into sharing intimate images of themselves before demanding money and threatening to expose the images to family, friends or the general public.

The eSafety Commissioner said scammers often trick young men into sharing intimate images, then threaten to send them to relatives, friends or the public unless they pay. Criminals also use intimate photos and identity details taken from earlier victims to appear credible when approaching new targets.

Nicola Palfrey, head of clinical practice at Headspace Australia, said public discussion often focuses on younger women and female-identifying people as victims of image-based abuse, but young men are also heavily targeted. An Australian Institute of Criminology report found that more than one in 10 adolescents aged 16 to 18 had experienced sexual extortion, while only a small fraction reported it to authorities. Sergeant David Mitchell of the South Australia Police Cybercrime Investigation Section urged victims not to give in to demands, saying offenders deliberately exploit fear, embarrassment and urgency.

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We think of a lot of image-based abuse being targeted at younger women or female-identifying people, but unfortunately there's also quite a lot of targeting of young men in this space.