The person demanded money and threatened to share John’s image online, a crime commonly referred to as sextortion. John lost more than £3,000 trying to stop the blackmailer from sharing the image.
When he had no more money to offer - fearing there was no way out - John thought about taking his own life.
Criminals are selling guides on social media on how to carry out sextortion, BBC News has learned.
The guides show people how to pose as young women online, trick a victim into sending sexually explicit material and then blackmail them.
On Tuesday, Olamide Shanu appeared in court in London. He is believed to be part of a gang that made £2m from blackmailing adults and children online.
Having your nudes shared can feel scary, and it can leave you feeling worried or even ashamed. But it’s not your fault.
It’s against the law for anyone to share a sexual image or video of someone who’s under 18, and NSPCC is working with the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) and Yoti to help you remove any sexual image or video of you that’s online.
Children are making indecent images of other children using artificial intelligence (AI) image generators, according to a UK charity.
The UK Safer Internet Centre (UKSIC) said it had received "a small number of reports" from schools but called for action now before the problem grew.
It said children might need help to understand that what they were making was considered child abuse material.
The court was told that Edwards had installed a "legitimate application" which allowed him to record images sent to him by the girls on Snapchat, without their knowledge.
He would threaten to share the images he already had on social media if they did not comply with his requests for more.
A town in southern Spain is in shock after it emerged that AI-generated naked images of young local girls had been circulating on social media without their knowledge.
Police are now investigating and according to reports, at least 11 local boys have been identified as having involvement in either the creation of the images or their circulation via the WhatsApp and Telegram apps.
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