There’s been a major increase in the reporting of webcam blackmail among young men in the UK, as criminals online use fake profiles to lure people into performing sex acts on camera. It’s what the National Crime Agency is calling “sextortion” – creepily, life reflects art like an episode of Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror. 

The NCA has also detailed four suicides linked to sextortion schemes in the past year, and reports from victims have more than doubled: 385 cases were brought to their attention in 2015, and 864 in 2016 so far.

It’s claimed that men aged between 21 and 30 and the most prevalent targets, with a “substantial proportion” between 11 and 20. Perpetrators use Facebook, Skype and even Linkedin to contact victims, convincing them to expose themselves on camera. From there, criminals discard the false identities to threaten victims, claiming they will share the intimate videos with family and friends unless they pay up.

Last year, 17-year-old Ronan Hughes, from Northern Ireland, took his own life after pictures of himself were posted online.

The criminal gangs conducting sextortion businesses have been linked to the Philippines, Morocco and the Ivory Coast. According to the Guardian, more than 40 arrests were made last year in the Philippines. There’s also an ongoing international case linked to one of the reported suicides.

Martin Hewitt, the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for kidnap and extortion and adult sexual offences Assistant Commissioner called sextortion “a really worrying emerging threat”.

“The really key point is that as a result of this criminality, we have had four young men in the United Kingdom who have killed themselves – taken their own lives – because they saw no way out of a situation that they had gotten into,” he said, according to the Independent.

“Firstly, we are providing information to police forces to better equip them to deal with these crimes when they are reported.

“Perhaps more important is a public awareness campaign to make not only potential victims, but all those around them -–friends of potential victims, family members of potential victims – really raise awareness to what is a very damaging and invidious crime.”

The NCA has launched an official campaign to combat sextortion, citing a serious case of under-reporting with the crime because victims often feel ashamed or embarrassed. A video campaign features a young girl, named ‘Jess’, on a webcam, enticing the viewer to take their clothes off, before she reveals her true intentions of sexual blackmail for cash.

Official advice from the NCA to any potential victims is: “Do not panic, do not pay, do not communicate and preserve evidence.”