Artificial Intelligence being used in sextortion cases involving minors: Florida attorney general

TAMPA, Fla. - Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody said artifical intelligence (AI) is now being used as a tool in extortion cases involving teens. It makes an already dangerous situation that much worse. 

She said teens and parents need to be on high alert. 

The FBI said last year, there were more than 7,000 reports of sextortion cases involving minors and in the last 18 months, at least three teens across the country died by suicide after being extorted online. 

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Sextortion is generally when a victim is black-mailed over sending explicit photos online. Moody said throwing AI into the mix is like throwing gas on a fire. 

"They'll go online they can get pictures of young people then use AI to make it look like they’re their own age, a young person, a young kid," the Florida attorney general said. "They're exchanging things among their peers when in fact it's a perpetrator."

She said AI can make the deceit even more believable. Using hacked-social media accounts, criminals may send explicit AI created images in hopes of duping the victim into sending explicit photos of their own.  

Those instantly become blackmail material.

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"When we look at our youth often times they're the only ones that have heard of AI," said Clara Reynolds, the president of the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay. "You’ve got parents at a deficit, guardians, teachers… you’ve got kids advancing with this tech, and so they're vulnerable." 

Which is why, experts said it's as important as ever to have tough, real conversations with your kids about the dangers lurking online. 

If you or a loved one is being extorted online, you should report it to law enforcement. Officials said you should flag the account and keep any messages you have. They could be critical as authorities said they could be critical in investigating an extortion case.