Predator targeting Perth private schoolboys over nude pictures

PARENTS of boys at private schools in Perth have been warned about an online predator swapping nude photographs with pupils.

It comes as the eSafety commissioner said there had been a rise in cases of “sextortion” targeting young men who post nude photos or videos to strangers they’ve just met online.

On Friday, parents received emails from at least two schools about someone pretending to be a 16-year-old student from another school.

Scotch College’s acting headmaster Richard Ledger told parents the person had been reported to police after they requested and exchanged nude photographs via Instagram with “potentially nine schools and up to 2000 students”.

Hale School told parents it had received information from another school about the “potential online safety concern”.

“It is believed that some of their students may be communicating online with someone they don’t know who has been posing as a student from another school and that there has been some exchange of images,” Hale’s director of students Brett Will wrote.

“There are some concerns that boys from Hale School may have been targeted. We ask that you talk with your son about keeping safe online and not to ‘friend’ anyone they don’t know in real life.”

The Office of the eSafety Commissioner said it had not received any complaints about this specific case.

“Incidents such as this can serve as a reminder for parents and schools to be vigilant in knowing what’s happening in the online lives of the children in their care,” eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant, pictured, said.

New figures reveal about three reports of revenge porn have been made by West Australians every month since the eSafety Office launched its online image-based abuse complaints portal last year.

Ms Inman Grant said more complaints were coming in, particularly from young men who were being threatened with sharing of their intimate images or videos for financial gain.

“The reports we see commonly initiate on social networking sites and popular dating apps, with conversation moving quickly to a video or private chat platform where nude images or live videos are created at the suggestion of the perpetrator,” she said.

“Once nude images are captured, threats are almost immediately made for money or for additional images.”

Ms Inman Grant said people using these sites or apps needed to be aware of the scam.

Since the office’s complaints portal was launched in October, 293 reports have been received across Australia, including 27 from WA. People do not have to report which State they are from. Staff then help victims identify where the intimate material is located to help them have it removed.

“Despite the majority of image-based abuse material being hosted on overseas websites, we’ve had an 80 per cent success rate,” Ms Inman Grant said.