‘Recovery scams’ targeting sextortion victims are on the rise, experts warn

The Winnipeg-based Centre for Child Protection runs Cybertip, Canada’s tip line for reporting online child sexual abuse. It has reported receiving “an unprecedented volume of reports from youth, and sometimes their concerned parents, about falling prey to aggressive sextortion tactics,” amounting to about 300 online sextortion cases a month. Cybertip is now warning about sextortion recovery scams, wherefraudsters target the same people who were victims of the extortion scam, claiming they will be able to recover intimate images for a fee. Attorney General Niki Sharma tabled legislation Monday that would provide additional protections for people whose intimate images are shared without permission. Steve Brighton, who works for the Southern Alberta Internet Child Exploitation Unit, said police are also concerned about the rise of sextortion recovery scams.