HAMPTON, Va. — Online cyber criminals are looking to earn cash by making death threats to children in Hampton Roads.
It’s a continual problem that the News 3 Investigative Team is following through on.
There was a case on April 7, 2024 when a girl in Virginia Beach was contacted by a person she didn’t know on Instagram, according to a search warrant.
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It states that the person told her they wanted to use her pictures for a mural they’re creating, saying they’ll pay her for the rights to the image.
She deposited three checks from them into her account but then realized it was a scam, the warrant states.
Two days later, she got messages showing graphic images of people murdered. Records state that she got an email from a person saying they had been hired to kill her unless she gave the money back in 20 minutes, adding, “I think you wanna die young”.
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“It doesn’t surprise me, children and senior citizens 65 and older are the largest group of victims when it comes down to cyber security crime,” said Richard James, a crime analyst with more than 30 years of police experience along with legal experience.
James said cyber criminals are out there right now trying to reach your children.
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The Beau Biden Foundation, President Joe Biden’s nonprofit that focuses on protecting kids, says every day there are at least half a million predators online, but only one in five children report they’ve been solicited or contacted by a predator in the last year.
“It’s big business. It’s a lot of money. The majority of the suspects are overseas. It’s getting harder to track them down, but technology is working better to our advantage. It’s not something that’s going to get any better soon,” said James.
The FBI offered some advice for parents:
- Tell your children to be extremely wary of anyone they talk to online,
- Educate yourselves about what your child is doing online.
- Have conversations about what's appropriate
- Make sure your kids use privacy settings
- Report any inappropriate contact between an adult and your child to law enforcement immediately — and which site they were using
“It’s tough being a parent these days but you really have to pay attention to what your children are doing on the Internet or their phones,” said James.
The FBI warns they've also seen an increase in sextortion cases.
Tips from the FBI to keep kids safe online.
