SEXTORTION: THE SHOCKING CRIME SPREADING ACROSS THE WORLD
ASHLEY WAS BLACKMAILED BY A MONSTER WHO HAD VICTIMS WORLDWIDE … INCLUDING AUSTRALIA
Ashley Reynolds’ phone vibrated. It was a text message from an anonymous sender. “I have naked pictures of you,” it read.
“‘It’s a scam,’ I thought,” says Ashley, 26. “I ignored it.”
But in fact, it was the trademark opening line of a sexploitation case that snared Ashley and hundreds of victims worldwide.
And, with more of us using Zoom and home computers during the COVID pandemic, we’ve all become even easier prey for cyber blackmailers.
Ashley was just 14 years old when she became a target in 2009.
“After I ignored that first text, I got dozens,” she says. “He demanded pictures of me in my underwear or he’d send naked pictures of me to my friends and family. Nobody had naked photos of me, but my mind raced.
“I had a laptop by my bed and wondered if I’d somehow been spied on through the webcam.”
As the texts continued, Ashley became increasingly anxious. Eventually, convinced the sender did have pictures of her, she complied.
“I locked myself in the bathroom and took seven blurry shots,” she says. “I was just a kid and thought now he’d leave me alone.”
Within days, though, the shots were used to blackmail Ashley into sending more.
“He wanted from behind, mirror shots, hands across my chest or my private parts,” she shudders.
Soon, demands came daily. “I wanted to tell my mum, but my parents trusted me. I thought I’d let them down.”
The demands became more explicit, too. Ashley even had to excuse herself to go take naked photos during her own birthday party – she was just 15.
Within four months, Ashley was sending her tormentor 60 photos a night.
“I was depressed and anxious, checking my phone
“I DON’T WANT ANY OTHER CHILD TO GO THROUGH THIS”
obsessively,” she says.
Ashley’s mum finally stumbled across the sextortion when she checked her daughter’s computer.
“My dad said they were going to call the police,” Ashley remembers. “I screamed: ‘No, please don’t! I don’t want to go to jail.’ I honestly believed I’d done something wrong.”
At the time,
Ashley lived in Phoenix, Arizona. After notifying the authorities, the FBI were sent to investigate.
But the blackmailer followed through on his threat, which meant Ashley had to drop out of school.
“He sent naked photos to all my friends,” she says. “I was devastated.”
In 2010, the FBI caught her blackmailer – Lucas Michael Chansler, 26.
The trainee pharmacist lived in a flat above his mum’s garage in Florida.
The FBI discovered Ashley was one of at least 350 victims in the UK, US,
Ireland, Australia and Canada – all were 15 and under. When asked why, Chansler told agents older girls wouldn’t have fallen for his scam.
He’d traded some photos on Dark Web paedophile sites, and investigators found 80,000 child porn videos and photos on his computer.
At a 2014 hearing, he admitted to nine counts of sexual exploitation and was sentenced to 105 years in jail.
“Afterwards, I campaigned to raise awareness of sexploitation,” says Ashley. “I didn’t want any other child to go through this.”
She won a national bravery award for her courage in speaking out, presented by Breaking Bad star, Bryan Cranston.
The FBI could only ever identify about 120 of Chansler’s victims. So, Ashley continues to work on raising awareness.
“There’ll be girls in their late teens to mid-twenties now who might not even know he was caught. I want them to know because they’re probably living with the fear he’ll pop up one day demanding more pictures, or their photos will surface. Sextortion can kill,” she says.
Ashley believes some of Chansler’s victims probably committed suicide. The FBI knows of at least five attempts.
Digital security firm Avast says it blocked almost 60,000 sextortion attempts in Australia in January 2021 alone.
“Young people are more gullible,” says Ashley. “Please, parents, check what your kids do online. And if you’re a teen and someone asks you to send photos, tell someone.”