Rizzle Kicks star Jordan Stephens has become a sextortion victim over intimate photographs. The hip hop artist, who is in a relationship with Jade Thirlwall, became a target after laying a complex trap to unmask the criminals driving British youngsters to take their own lives.
Across Britain, the crime dubbed sextortion has been directly connected to the suicides of four teenagers. The offence involves scammers establishing an online romance with their victim before requesting they share intimate images. Once the fraudster obtains the explicit pictures, the extortion commences.
“In 2023, there were an average of 22 reports of sextortion a day,” reveals Jordan, 33. “Sextortion is now the most common form of internet image abuse in Britain.”
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Sextortion fraudsters depend on their victims making payments to prevent the humiliation of their private images being shared amongst their mates and relatives.
The majority of sextortion victims are young males and many are minors. “This crime overwhelmingly targets young men. In fact, over 90% of reported victims are male,” explains Jordan.
An astounding 65% of teenagers and young adults have been approached in online sextortion schemes. When Jordan ventures onto Britain’s streets to question young people about encounters with sex fraudsters, he discovers that numerous individuals have experienced this.
Jordan Stephens and Jade Thirlwall pose on a red carpet -Credit:Matt Keeble/Dave Benett/Getty Im
It’s believed there are hundreds of thousands of victims nationwide, though many fail to report incidents, according to Jordan. In his documentary, UNTOLD: Hunting My Sextortion Scammer, Jordan meets one young victim who was blackmailed until he was physically ill and suicidal.
Speaking anonymously, he says, “It started when I was 16. I remember meeting somebody on a dating app. I was quite lonely then all of a sudden someone was showing me lots of interest, it was exciting. I felt seen and I felt understood, but it quickly turned into something more sinister.”
After sending compromising pictures of his body things took a nasty turn. He says, “They bothered me all day, every day. I remember being asked for money. I showed screenshots of my bank accounts to prove I had nothing. I remember white hot panic that these pictures of me would be seen by my family and friends. It made me start being physically sick.”
Whilst sextortion remains unlawful in the UK under blackmail legislation, numerous fraudsters operate thousands of miles away in locations such as the Ivory Coast, the Philippines and Nigeria, yet Jordan could only locate seven prosecution reports for sextortion-related crimes in the UK. Meanwhile, 51 teenage suicides globally have been linked to sextortion.
“I don’t like that young people are being taken advantage of,” says Jordan. “You have hundreds of thousands of young guys sharing explicit images underage, and we have no idea where those images are on the internet.”
Murray Dowey died aged 16 after being sextorted -Credit:Daily Record
Jordan is driven to act after encountering the family of Murray Dowey, 16, who tragically ended his life in 2023 following a sextortion scam.
Evan Dowey, who was just 13 when he lost his brother Murray, shares, “He was a really good brother, he really looked out for me,” and reveals the harrowing details of how scammers posing as a teenage girl coerced Murray into sending an intimate photo before threatening him for money.
Determined to prevent such a tragedy from striking another family, Evan expresses, “I just don’t want anybody else to have to go through what I’ve had to go through.”
In a bold move to catch a scammer, Jordan sets up a decoy profile and counterfeit gift cards, which are scammers’ preferred method of payment, allowing him to track their whereabouts. He declares, “We’re going to play the criminals at their own game.”
However, the situation escalates when a scammer aggressively contacts him via Instagram, warning, “I swear I will destroy your life.”
Catch the gripping revelations in UNTOLD: Hunting My Sextortion Scammer, streaming from Wednesday 16 July on Channel 4.