Online blackmail of Czech children focused on so-called “sextortion” (analysis of culprit and victim behaviors)

• There are very similar techniques used to blackmail children.
• These techniques focuses on gaining confidence, luring out intimate material, and subsequent blackmailing.
• To obtain the child’s attention, the offender begins to positively evaluate all materials sent by the victim.
• One hundred percent of the child victims did not contact an adult during the 2–3 months of blackmail.
• The role of prevention is invaluable in these situations.

The online blackmail of children within the environment of Internet services (specifically, social networks) has become an extremely dangerous phenomenon that affects 6–8% of Czech children. Within the following text, data obtained from research conducted in 2013–2015 by the Centre for the Prevention of Risky Virtual Communication, Faculty of Education, Palacký University in Olomouc will be discussed. A selection of analyses aimed at gender and age differences connected with the blackmailing of children will be presented. Additionally, whether the children participate in blackmailing on their own and whether they eventually become offenders of other individuals will be examined.The text will also be supplemented with a typical blackmail model using intimate and sexually explicit materials (which are referred to as “sextortion”) that was created based on a detailed analysis of 25 serious cases of online blackmail. The model has been divided into several connected stages through which the online attack is carried out. The specific stages are subsequently elaborated on using documented evidence. Based on the analysis of individual cases, we have compiled a model that describes the different stages of the process of extortion and can predict communication of the attacker and the victim.