REGINA — Saskatchewan RCMP is warning the public of a rise in reports of financially-motived online sextortion scams targeting youth across the province.
Financial sextortion is a form of blackmail that involves someone online threatening to send a sexual image or video of the victim to other people if they are not paid. Financial sextortion is not a new concept, but has been evolving with the complexity of social media in the last year and continues to affect more and more youth.
Saskatchewan RCMP began investigating after receiving multiple reports of a scam targeting youths of all genders between the ages of 13-16. In the reported cases, victims were approached by individuals who identified as females of a similar age online or through apps targeting teenage audiences. Once initial contact was made, the victims were asked for their Instagram username and to exchange intimate photos. The photos were then used as blackmail in exchange for financial gain.
Once reported to Saskatchewan RCMP, files of this nature are investigated by the Violent Crime Linkage Analysis Section (ViCLAS) and the Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) Unit, due to the victims being underaged. The investigations into the reported cases remains ongoing and no charges have been laid.
Online child sexual exploitation cases are on the rise across Canada. The rate of police-reported incidents of online child sexual exploitation has more than doubled since the tracking of cybercrime began in 2014. In the 2022-2023 fiscal year, the Saskatchewan RCMP’s Internet Child Exploitation unit responded to 931 cases, in 2023-2024 that number is expected to surpass 1,000.
With the increase of online sexual exploitation and sextortion cases targeting youth, parents are encouraged to talk to their children about online activities. Below are a few tips to help keep both adults and children safe online:
- Never answer messages or friend/follow requests from people you don’t know;
- Do not send photos of any kind to people you don’t know;
- Always answer video calls with the camera turned off until you know who the person calling is.
If you or your child have been targeted, please do the following:
- Report it to your local police or online via cybertip.ca.
- Immediately stop all communication with the suspect.
- Ensure that you and/or your child do not comply with the threat.
- Keep any correspondence between you or your child and the suspect.
- Remember that you are not alone.
“What we want victims of any age to know, is that they are not to blame, they will not get in trouble for reporting it, and most importantly there is life after something like this happens” says S/Sgt. Scott Lambie of the Saskatchewan RCMP Major Crimes Branch. “There are people and resources available to help you and there are tools that exist to remove the images online. If you feel comfortable, reach out to your local police detachment or get more information at Cybertip.ca – and remember, you are not alone.”
