Since the pandemic began, more kids are online and a child advocacy group says there has been an 88% increase in children facing sextortion.
Sextortion occurs when the offending suspect further victimizes a child.
Cybertip.ca, Canada’s tipline for reporting the online sexual exploitation of children, has reported the spike in sextortion.
For the Safer Internet Day on Tuesday, the Canadian Centre for Child Protection, the parent company of Cybertip.ca, launched a series of videos for youth to keep safe.
The videos show kids how sextortion can happen, how not to be a victim, where help is available, and offers educational tips.
Cybertip.ca says, on average, they receive 40 sextortion reports a month.
Many involve offenders connecting with youth through social media and livestream platforms.
Snapchat, Google Hangouts, Facebook Messenger, and Omegle are the livestream sites offenders are likely to use.
Offenders will use shame and fear to keep the victims from reporting the activity.
“We want to remind youth they don’t have to deal with difficult online situations alone. There is help,” said Signy Arnason, an associate executive for the company, adding Cybertip.ca is a good place to start if youth are in crisis.
“Cybertip.ca can help youth gain back control of the situation, including the removal of images or videos posted online.”
Cybertip.ca can help families and educators with information to keep kids safe.
They say to be calm and immediately report an incident to them or local police.
All communication should be stopped, but not deleted, for investigation purposes. Keep information on the suspect username, social media account, all communications, and copies of any nude images that may have been sent.
They say the situation will not get better by complying with threats, and to never send money or additional nude images.
Children can’t deal with this alone and need to know there is a safe adult to reach out to.
For more information go to cybertip.ca/sextortion.
Copyright Postmedia Network Inc., 2021