Comedy duo The 2 Johnnies explore 'sextortion' in new podcast episode

COMEDY duo The 2 Johnnies have released their latest podcast episode which investigates the silent pandemic - Sextortion.

Otherwise known as image-based sexual abuse Johnny B explains: “It’s basically a type of blackmail that happens when someone threatens to share sexually explicit images of you unless you do something for them, like send them money or perform sexual favours”

Commenting on why the pair wanted to do such an episode Johnny Smacks follows up saying: “We really wanted to investigate this further to see how widespread this is, how it impacts on people and what you should do if you ever find yourself in a situation where someone has gotten a compromising image of you and they are threatening to make it public.” 

One young man was brave enough to share his story of sextortion with The 2 Johnnies and their listeners, Stephen from Laois. 

He delves into his horrific experience of being duped when he was 18 years old. 

Things moved quickly for this particular sextortion, Stephen was followed by someone on Instagram and upon following back he received a message almost immediately. 

They chatted and quickly moved to Snapchat where the girl in question changed the conversation by sending a nude and asking Stephen to do the same.

As soon as he obliged, the image was screenshotted and he was blackmailed for €10k.

Numerous men and women also came forward with emails of their stories. 

Three of these are read by members of the 2 Johnnies team on the podcast, they are stories of blackmail, fear and utter terror.

CoCo’s Law came into effect during the pandemic and it criminalises the distribution of intimate images without consent.

An Garda Síochána launched an awareness campaign to aid this new law which issues public guidance on how Sextortion can happen and how to respond if you are, or become a victim.

The 2 Johnnies spoke with Detective Superintendent Ian Lackey from the Garda National Protective Services Bureau and asked him why the Gardaí had started this awareness campaign and to explain Coco’s Law which is a recent change in legislation.

The 2 Johnnies Podcast episode 279: Sextortion is streaming now exclusively on Spotify.