Maybe you're right, but it still feels to me that leaking the pictures will not benefit the scammers much. They might have connections to other people that are still in the business and they'd harm them indirectly by leaking after getting paid. Why make more enemies? Also, why put more attention onto themselves after they already succeeded? Some people have very strange reasons they do things, but I still don't think it's likely. I think these things are organized with the top priority of minimizing the risk of getting caught.
Even if they change both the identity and the target, it's less likely they are going to succeed next time if the photos were leaked. People can read about the story in the news and it can affect the perception of this entire type of extortion in general.
They probably don't care for the photos. They care about making money and want to keep making money in the future.