English backpacker Charlie Wade was surprised when a girl he met on Snapchat asked him to send a nude photo.
The 21-year-old had just arrived in Perth as part of a whirlwind global trip, but he'd yet to connect with anyone locally.
"Someone I met online wanted to be my friend and it was good to have someone to chat with," Mr Wade said.
"I was surprised, usually blokes are the ones asking for nudes, but I was beginning to see her as a friend.
"She gained my trust."
Charlie's new friend went by the name "Amelia".
For all intents and purposes, Amelia was from London but was studying in Bath, close to where Charlie was born.
Immediately after Charlie sent the illicit images, "Amelia" threatened to send them on to all of his Instagram followers.
That is, unless he coughed up a £500 bribe, equating to a little over $950 in local currency.
He was shocked. Then hurt.
"My first thought was I better send them the money so they would delete the pictures," Mr Wade said.
"I tried to send through the money but because it was a large sum, luckily the transaction didn't go through."
Not alone
Sextortion is coercing a person into sharing intimate images before threatening to release them unless money is paid.
In Mr Wade's case, he didn't have a lot of money to spare, and his face wasn't visible in the photos, so he decided to call their bluff.
"I blocked them on everything," he said.
"They sent the images to a few people. I messaged my friends and explained what happened."
Mr Wade has since continued his trip around Australia and is working on a farm in Gippsland.
He said he is sharing his experience because he knows it is far from unique.
An increasing number of young men are being blackmailed after sending sexual images and videos of themselves to criminals posing as attractive young women, according to Australia's E-Safety Commissioner.
The number of sexual extortion reports almost tripled in Australia in the first quarter of 2023 to 1,700.
"The majority of these reports, almost 1,200, were from young people between 18 and 24 years and 90 per cent of all reports were from males," eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said.
"The cost to these young people is significant. Not only have many paid out thousands of dollars, but countless have suffered deep distress."
Lesson learned
Since then, Mr Wade has met other young men who have been through the same thing.
"One friend of mine lost £1,500 and some of their dignity as well — unfortunately they did spread those pictures around," he said.
"Sometimes they'll just spread the pictures either way."
Mr Wade has completely stopped talking to new people online.
"Talking to strangers online doesn't feel as safe anymore. Now I only talk to people online if I've met them in person," he said.
"I will never do anything like that ever again. It was quite a traumatic experience, but I'm lucky nothing ever came of it."
