Global cybercriminals lure unwary children and adults into sending explicit photos of themselves - and then make their lives hell with the threat of exposure and demands for large sums of money.

An increasing number of South African teens are falling victim to sextortion and at least one adult South African victim died by suicide earlier this year.

Sextortion occurs when someone persuades you to upload explicit photos of yourself, and then uses those images to blackmail you.

BeinTouch, an online safety platform for parents, reports that predators lurk on online platforms such as social media and gaming apps that are popular playgrounds for teenagers.

"Snapchat, Instagram, TikTok and Discord are prime hunting grounds for predators and criminals looking for an easy target," the site says.

Social media law expert Emma Sadleir says she fields up to five calls a day from frantic parents, from as far away as rural Zimbabwe. Boys between the ages of 13 and 20 are the primary targets, and Sadleir says international crime syndicates are behind the sextortion.

"We've traced syndicates from as far afield as Nigeria, the Philippines and Indonesia," she says. The modus operandi has evolved from old-school catfishing, in which fraudsters deceive you on social media by setting up a fake profile using the photos of one of your contacts.

"These kids think they are online talking to someone they know, when actually they...