The Laramie Police Department recently took to social media to announce that they are working with the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation to investigate a widespread online 'Sextortion' case involving multiple juveniles in Wyoming.

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Some of these victims are students from Albany County.

"Wyoming Law Enforcement became aware of the criminal activity after being contacted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)," the Laramie PD wrote in a social media post. "The case involves multiple unknown suspects using several social media accounts such as Snapchat and Instagram to blackmail young female students into sending intimate and sexually explicit images and videos."

Victims are being contacted through various forms of social media, like Snapchat, Facebook, TikTok, and more.

The LPD wrote that the suspects will then utilize a victim's friends/followers list to find and extort new victims. It's like a pyramid scheme of 'ew,' and it goes like this:

  • Suspects will send a link of other victims' explicit files to potential new victims. They will tell the new victim that if they send files, the suspect won't expose the prior child victim's files.
  • But if the victim agrees, the suspect will then begin extorting the new victim. The suspect will demand pictures and videos over a multi-day period and will tell the victim that if they comply, the suspect will will delete the files. The Laramie Police Department stated that this is NOT true.
  • The suspect will also force (under threat of exposure) the child victim to to conduct video calls, in which the victim is required to show their face, but the suspect does not.
  • The suspect will also force the victim to provide them with their friends/followers list, and then the pattern continues.

"Although the suspect(s) remain unidentified, Wyoming DCI and LPD continue to actively investigate this case and work with the FBI in an effort to put a stop to this ongoing exploitation," the LPD wrote.

If you or someone you know is contacted by these individuals, the Laramie Police Department said that you should beware the following:

  • The SUSPECT depends on victims feeling ashamed or guilty to continue to exploit them.
  • Remember, it is NOT your fault.
  • If you or someone you know is a victim, please report it to a trusted adult or Law Enforcement.
  • Regardless of what the SUSPECT says, he will not stop the exploitation regardless of how many images or video a victim sends.

The Wyoming DCI reported that there are "well over 150 victims nationwide," meaning the victim should know they are not alone. If you receive a link to another victim's images, do not respond, do not engage, and do not view them.

Report them immediately by calling the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation at 307-777-7181, or the Laramie Police Department at 307-721-2526, or the Casper Police Department at 307-235-8278.

K2 Radio News has reached out to the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation to ask if cases like these have been seen in Casper. We will update this story once we receive a response.

Code Of The West: Wyoming State Code of Ethics

"The Code of the West" was declared the official state code of Wyoming, and the act was signed into law on March 3rd, 2010. Wyoming is the first state to adopt a code of ethics. The legislation chose ten ethics derived from the book "Cowboy Ethics" by James P. Owen

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