DETROIT (WXYZ) — On Wednesday, the Department of Justice and the FBI Detroit field office are warning about the rise in sextortion schemes mainly targeting teenagers.
This comes as the department announced charges against 21-year-old Brandon Le. The Florida man is accused of coercing a 13-year-girl in Michigan to send sexual explicit material on social media.
He's facing three charges for coercing a minor to engage in sexual activity, producing child pornography and receiving child pornography.
“The rapid rise of sextortion across Michigan and across the United States is a deeply disturbing trend,” said Mark Totten, U.S. attorney in the Western District of Michigan.
Totten alleges Le coerced the young girl from Clinton County into having sexual conversations over snapchat before using them against her.
“He then took a screenshot of the sexual portion of that conversation and threatened to publicly post that conversation online with her name,” Totten said
Using the conversation as blackmail, Le allegedly demanded sexual photos and videos to keep quiet. Authorities believe this 13-year-old is far from the only victim.
"We believe that Mr. Le may have contacted a significant number of other people across the nation,” Totten said.
According to the FBI, reports of sextortion in Michigan were nearly three times higher in 2022 compared to 2021. Dr. Justin Patchin with the Cyberbullying Research Center has been studying the issue.
“We first studied sextortion in 2016 and again in 2019 and about 5% of the middle and high school students we surveyed said they had been a target of sextortion,” Patchin said.
Pathcin says in both studies, they found boys were more often targets, and most perpetrators knew their victim. However, many high-profile cases like this one involve strangers.
Patchin urges parents to be understanding and connect with their children, so they feel safe coming forward.
“We need to make sure if our kids do find themselves in these very negative situations they have someone to turn to,” Patchin said.
The FBI provided the following six tips on how people can protect themselves from sextortion schemes:
- Be selective about what you share online. If your social media accounts are open to everyone, a predator may be able to figure out a lot of information about you.
- Be wary of anyone you encounter for the first time online. Block or ignore messages from strangers.
- Be aware that people can pretend to be anything or anyone online. Videos and photos are not proof that people are who they claim to be. Images can be altered or stolen. In some cases, predators have even taken over the social media accounts of their victims.
- Be suspicious if you meet someone on one game or app and this person asks you to start talking on a different platform.
- Be in the know. Any content you create online — whether it is a text message, photo, or video — can be made public. And nothing actually “disappears” online. Once you send something, you don’t have any control over where it goes next.
- Be willing to ask for help. If you are getting messages or requests online that don’t seem right, block the sender, report the behavior to the site administrator or go to an adult. If you have been victimized online, tell someone.
“We are 100% committed to using every tool we have to hold perpetrators accountable,” Totten said.
The U.S. Attorney’s office believes that Le used the name “Ty” and the following usernames on various social media, messaging and email accounts:
- addityyt
- tyaddinude
- tyaddibaby
- tycroneaddi
- tygrazittenudef
If you believe that you are a victim in this case, please visit the U.S. Attorney's website or contact Kathy Schuette, victim coordinator, at 616-808-2034 or kathy.schuette@usdoj.gov.
If you have information about or believe you are a victim of sextortion, contact your local FBI field office by calling 1-800-CALL-FBI or report it online at the FBI tips website. More information is available on the FBI's sextortion's webpage.
