Austin Teen Indicted in Alleged Sextortion Scheme
In Austin, Tre Von Harris, a 19-year-old resident, was recently indicted on charges relating to an alleged sextortion scheme. U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) reports Harris targeted primarily underage males, posing as a teenage female named “Michelle” on various social media platforms.
Details of the Scheme
According to reports from the FBI’s San Antonio Division, Harris used various online aliases and platforms to impersonate a teenage girl between November 2022, to his arrest in May 2024. The males, mostly those below 18, were persuaded into producing and sharing sexually explicit material. After receiving the content, the alleged suspect would contact the victims as himself, asking them to comply with Michelle’s demands.
The FBI provided that the man behind the online persona “Michelle” would later try to extort money from the victims or threaten to expose the shared explicit content to people on the victims’ friends lists. This scheme is referred to as “sexploitation” or “sextortion”.
Variety of Social Media Platforms Used
The details indicate the alleged offender may have taken advantage of a variety of social media platforms to perpetuate his scheme. These include Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, TikTok, and the messaging app, Telegram. Reports also suggest that X (formerly known as Twitter) and the money transfer app CashApp were deployed in the alleged exploitation.
FBI Call for Victims
The federal agency is currently calling for potential victims to come forward, believing there may be more individuals affected who are yet to be identified. The FBI prompts anyone who believes they may have been a victim or have relevant information to the investigation to contact them and submit their accounts via a form available on their website.
Those eligible for the scheme’s redress after determining their victim status may be entitled to certain services and restitution as per federal law.
Investigation Continues
While Tre Von Harris remains indicted, investigation into the extent of the crimes and the series of sexually exploitative ‘sextortion’ behavior continues. Law enforcement agencies around the nation face a continual uphill battle in protecting children and young adults from online sexual exploitation and the sinister threats that come with social media’s evolving landscape.
This case prompts renewed discussion on the safety of underage internet users and the importance of vigilant online behaviour, particularly with regards to online identities and entanglements with unknown online users.
