Getting blackmailed over nonexistent nudes? On Skeptical Sunday, Nick Pell untangles the dark web of sextortion and why kids face the greatest danger. On This Week's Skeptical Sunday: The basic sextortion scam is just sophisticated phishing. Those alarming emails claiming to have compromising footage of you? Pure fiction. These scammers cast wide nets, sending millions of messages hoping a tiny percentage will bite. They typically have basic information (your name, email, maybe your address) purchased from dark web data brokers, but nothing actually incriminating. The golden rule: if they don't show you the evidence, it doesn't exist. Children face genuine sextortion risks online. While adults receive empty threats, children encounter a far more dangerous reality. Predators create fake profiles mimicking peers, establish trust, and eventually manipulate children into sharing compromising images. Once obtained, these images become leverage for extorting money, demanding more explicit content, or worse — attempting to arrange in-person meetings. It's a digital trap baited with false friendship. Modern kids are safer outside but more vulnerable online. We've bubble-wrapped the physical world for children with public awareness campaigns, enhanced security measures, and helicopter parenting. Yet ironically, we hand these same protected children devices that connect them directly to potential predators. The statistics are alarming: 40% of surveyed kids reported someone attempting to groom them online, and 6% of children aged 9-12 have sent self-generated sexual content. Victims often remain silent due to shame and fear. The humiliation of falling for scams creates a powerful silencing effect. As Nick candidly shared about his own experience with cryptocurrency scammers: "It's not about the money. Losing the money sucks, don't get me wrong. But it's so humiliating." This shame multiplies exponentially with sexual content, especially for adolescents already navigating identity and social acceptance. A staggering 82% of young victims report being too scared to seek help. Open communication creates crucial safety nets. The most powerful protection isn't restrictive software or monitoring apps — it's creating an environment where kids know they can come to you without judgment if they make mistakes online. Make it crystal clear: "If you ever get into trouble online, I'm here for you, I'll support you, and you won't be punished because someone manipulated or tricked you." This simple assurance can be the emergency exit that leads vulnerable young people to seek help rather than spiraling deeper into exploitation. Having this conversation today could save your child from becoming a statistic tomorrow. Connect with Jordan on Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. If you have something you'd like us to tackle here on Skeptical Sunday, drop Jordan a line at [email protected] and let him know! Full show notes and resources can be found here: See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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Welcome to Skeptical Sunday. I'm your host, Jordan Harbinger. Today I'm here with Skeptical Sunday co-host, writer and researcher Nick Pell. On the Jordan Harbinger Show, we decode the stories, secrets and skills of the world's most fascinating people and turn their wisdom into practical advice that you can use to impact your own life and those around you.
Our mission is to help you become a better informed, more critical thinker and during the week, We have long-form conversations with a variety of incredible people, from spies to CEOs, athletes, authors, thinkers and performers.
On Sundays, though, we do Skeptical Sunday, where a rotating guest co-host and I break down a topic you may have never thought about and debunk common misconceptions on that topic. Topics such as recycling, chemtrails, banned foods, GMOs, toothpaste, crystal healing, diet pills, energy drinks and more.
And if you're new to the show or you want to tell your friends about the show, and I always appreciate it when you do that, I suggest our episode starter packs. These are collections of our favorite episodes on persuasion, negotiation, psychology, disinformation, crime and cults and more. It'll help new listeners get a taste of everything we do here on the show.
Just visit jordanharbinger.com slash start or search for us in your Spotify app to get started. Today we're going to be discussing a pretty gross topic, the sexual exploitation of adults and children. We wanted to put that up front because all kidding about triggering and stuff aside, we know that this is a very emotional topic for a lot of people.
And yes, it can trigger panic attacks and other emotional disturbances in people who are sensitive to that. So if you're one of those people who might find this difficult slash impossible to listen to, or you got young ones around, maybe skip this episode for now. All right. I got a really disturbing email a few days ago and it had me a little bit nervous.
It said that it had all kinds of evidence that I was a gross sexual pervert. Guilty. Pictures of me rubbing one out, so to speak. Even pictures of me and my wife in bed. Now, that would be bad enough. Aber die E-Mail hat auch gesagt, dass wenn ich nicht etwas ernsthaftes Geld verkaufe, in der Form von untraceable, oder eigentlich super traceable, Bitcoin, Kryptowährung.
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