Illawarra teen charged twice with alleged sextortion, blackmail offences

The 17-year-old from the Illawarra first came to police attention on October 19, when they were investigating the alleged sextortion and blackmail of a 16-year-old girl.

About 9.30pm the same day, a 17-year-old boy was arrested in Wollongong and charged with blackmail, threaten to record of distribute intimate image, use carriage service for child abuse material.

He was granted conditional bail to appear before a children's court on January 24, 2024.

Then, on November 22, detectives arrested the same male at an address in Gwynneville.

He was charged with use carriage service to solicit child abuse material, aggravated offence re private sexual material using carriage service, and demand with menaces intend obtain gain/cause loss.

He was refused bail and at a children's court on November 23, where he was granted conditional bail to re-appear on Tuesday, November 28.

"Police will allege in court the boy was talking to at least five further victims in an attempt to sextort them," a NSW Police spokeswoman said.

Commander of State Crime Command's Cybercrime Squad, Detective Superintendent Matthew Craft, said sextortion is a global trend which has seen an increase in Australia recently.

"Sextortion is where offenders target predominantly teenage boys online and request sexual images, before threatening to share them publicly unless the victim pay up," he said.

"While it's a scary and sometimes embarrassing predicament to find yourself in; we want victims to know there are options available to them and police have powers to take action against alleged offenders.

"Anyone can become a target of sextortion, and it is never the victim's fault. But there are steps everyone can take, for example not sending any images to anyone online that you wouldn't proudly display on a public notice board yourself."

Anyone with information that may assist investigators is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.