Teen Allegedly Hijacked Facebook Pages, Demanded Nude Pics as Ransom
Oregon 16-year-old allegedly hijacked girls' MySpace and Facebook pages.
July 8, 2009 — -- The Web -- even 20 years after its advent -- is still a wild, untamed beast, and we're reminded of that again by a case out of Oregon that combines social networking and extortion charges.
A 16-year-old boy from Clackamas County, Ore., is accused of taking over the MySpace and Facebook pages of two young women he knew and promising to return control if they sent him nude pictures of themselves.
Oregon police say the boy believed the whole thing was a prank. Authorities said otherwise. The boy could face charges in county juvenile court of computer crime and theft by extortion.
"This is the first time we've investigated anything that could actually be called extortion," said Lt. Jeff Lanz of the Oregon State Police. "But there's a lot of harassing behavior through text messaging and posting abusive messages on people's pages."
The two female victims are both 18 and now in college, one at Oregon State University and the other at Washington State University. Police said they grew up a few blocks from the home of the alleged perpetrator. They did not send any photos of themselves; instead, they called police. (As a matter of policy, the police said they would not release the name of the underage suspect or those of his victims.)
The Oregon case is unusual, but it sets off alarm bells for people who monitor young people's online safety.
"I'm not surprised," said Ernie Allen, president of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, in an e-mail to ABC News. He said a growing number of children are enticed to send sexually explicit pictures of themselves online -- and they're often threatened afterward.
"For example," he wrote, "a kid takes a risque photo of himself or herself in response to a request from an assumed girlfriend or boyfriend. The recipient of the photo then uses the photo to extort the child into taking more; i.e., 'if you don't do what I say, I will send this photo to your school, to your friends, to your parents, disseminate it on the Internet.' A stunning number of these kids do what they are asked, and don't tell anybody."
