Here’s a topic a lot of people seem to know nothing about yet and it’s an important one to have a conversation with your kids about!

Sextortion!

Watch the video above to learn about the definition, statistics, and hear a story about a sextortion incident.

Watch the video above to hear from our Executive Director of School Safety about sextortion happening to our children.

Only 1 in 5 parents have spoken to their children about online safety. Please watch the videos, read the following, and be the one who has the conversation to protect your children!

Here’s a great resource from the FBI: https://www.fbi.gov/how-we-can-help-you/safety-resources/scams-and-safety/common-scams-and-crimes/sextortion

Overview

Sextortion can start on any site, app, messaging platform, or game where people meet and communicate. In some cases, the first contact from the criminal will be a threat. The person may claim to already have a revealing picture or video of a child that will be shared if the victim does not send more pictures. More often, however, this crime starts when young people believe they are communicating with someone their own age who is interested in a relationship or with someone who is offering something of value.

After the criminals have one or more videos or pictures, they threaten to publish that content, or they threaten violence, to get the victim to produce more images. The shame, fear, and confusion children feel when they are caught in this cycle often prevents them from asking for help or reporting the abuse. Caregivers and young people should understand how the crime occurs and openly discuss online safety.

Financial Sextortion
The FBI also has recently seen an increase in financial sextortion cases targeting minor victims in the U.S. Financial sextortion is different from traditional sextortion.

In these cases, the offender receives sexually explicit material from the child and then threatens to release the compromising material unless the victim sends money and/or gift cards. The amount requested varies, and the offender often releases the victim’s sexually explicit material regardless of whether or not they receive payment. This increasing threat has resulted in an alarming number of deaths by suicide.

How to Get Help
If young people are being exploited, they are the victim of a crime and should report it. Contact your local FBI field office, call 1-800-CALL-FBI, or report it online at tips.fbi.gov.

The FBI also has staff dedicated to assisting victims of crime. Learn more about our Victim Services Division and know your rights if you are the victim of sextortion and your images have been posted online.

Now we also need to warn you that there are various businesses online advertising that they are the sources to go to for help with sextortion, and they’ll help you for a fee. One noted that law enforcement and the FBI probably wouldn’t assist you but we don’t find that to be true. Please report to the FBI and/or your local law enforcement authority. On social media it can be true that the criminals are not in the United States and could be difficult or impossible to locate, but it doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t report it. We can’t comment on the effectiveness of independent businesses offering this service as we have no experience with their work.

We also note that people may be embarrassed to report being a victim of this crime, please know that there are lots of victims and reporting will protect others and make a difference. They’re here to help, there’s no need to be embarrassed.

A few other notes from the FBI link:

But my child would never do that

The FBI has interviewed victims as young as 8, and the crime affects children of both genders and crosses all ethnic and socioeconomic groups. The victims are honor-roll students, the children of teachers, student athletes, etc. The only common trait among victims is internet access.

How do I protect the young people I know?

Information-sharing and open lines of communication are the best defense. Young people need to know this crime is happening and understand where the risks are hiding. Explain to the children in your life that people can pretend to be anyone or anything online, a stranger reaching out to them online may be doing so with bad intent, and no matter what the platform or application claims, nothing “disappears” online. If they take a photo or video, it always has the potential to become public.

You may choose to place certain limits on your children’s Internet use or spot check their phones and other devices to see what applications they are using and with whom they are communicating. This can be part of an open and ongoing conversation about what it and is not appropriate online. It also may be worth considering a rule against devices in bedrooms overnight or shutting off Wi-Fi access in the overnight hours. Caregivers may also want to review the settings on a young person’s social media accounts with them. Keeping accounts private can prevent predators from gathering their personal information.

The other crucial element is to keep the door open to your children so that they know they can come to you and ask for help. Let them know that your first move will be to help—always. These predators are powerful because of fear, and the victims suffer ever more negative consequences as the crime carries on over days, weeks, and months. If you are the adult a child trusts with this information, comfort them, help them understand they have been the victim of a crime, and help them report it to law enforcement.

How can I talk to my kids about sextortion?

Here are three 30-second conversations you can have with your kids or kids you know.

The New Version of Don’t Talk to Strangers
– When you’re online, has anyone you don’t know ever tried to contact or talk to you?
– What did you do or what would you do if that happened?
– Why do you think someone would want to reach a kid online?
– You know, it’s easy to pretend to be someone you’re not online and not every person is a good person. Make sure you block or ignore anything that comes in from someone you don’t know in real life.

The Power of a Picture
– Has anyone you know ever sent a picture of themselves that got passed around school or a team or club?
– What’s possible anytime you send someone a picture?
– What if that picture were embarrassing?
– Can you think about how someone could use that kind of picture against a person?

I’m Here to Help
– I read an article today about kids being pressured to send images and video of their bodies to a person they met online. Have you ever heard about anything like that?
– Sometimes they were being threatened and harassed—scary stuff.
– You know, if you are ever feeling like something is going on—online or off—that feels scary or wrong or over your head, my first concern is going to be helping you. You can always come to me.

Another excellent resource for assistance:

https://www.stopsextortion.com/

Great advice here for parents/guardians from the above link:

Be there unconditionally.

Kids experiencing sextortion are so scared of getting in trouble. They’re worried about shaming their parents, that they’ll get suspended from school, judged by friends or in trouble with the police. These fears can even be suggested by the abuser to maintain control over them, and sadly these things do happen. These fears keep kids silent, and that has led to terrible tragedies.

Your fear and frustration is normal, but they need to know you’ll always get through tough situations together. Even if you think they know you’ll support them, having these conversations can make a big difference in them sharing their experiences with you when something feels off or goes wrong.

Report sextortion.

Tech companies can help remove images and in some cases remove the threats. You can report both the people threatening you, their threats, and the images if they’ve been shared. This removal guide has steps to make reports on many major platforms.

Mention if age is under 18.

If the person targeted by sextortion is under 18, encourage them to say that they are under 18 (even if their profile has a different age). It helps companies to know that they are legally still a minor and to take more aggressive action. Also, if they are a minor in the images, you can report the images to National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. They work hard to keep young people safe, and will make the report available to law enforcement.

Consider involving the police.

Some victims told us that police resolved the situation, but you should know that if police get involved, the target of sextortion could face some consequences too. It’s illegal to share sexual images of minors even if they are of themselves. Most of the time, we recommend learning more about available options. ***Note from the Foundation, most law enforcement partners and district attorneys are realizing this has been an issue and are developing programs to prevent these issues. Jeffco addressed this many years ago but we’ve left this note as people around the country visit our website for assistance. It is always okay to ask the questions.

Save everything.

Block the blackmailer, but do not delete profile or messages. This probably feels like the opposite of what you were thinking, but keep everything that is being said to the victim and that the victim has said. This will help show someone what happened instead of just relying on memory. Save texts, pictures, videos, websites, etc. You can take screenshots and save web pages as PDFs. Save everything just in case and change account passwords.

We also like this link for those of you who want to advocate – https://www.stopsextortion.com/policy-makers/ We need our policy makers to create laws that assist in these issues to protect our children within our very digital world.