There's an increase in sextortion-type incidents in Saskatchewan and across the rest of Canada involving teenage males, according to the Saskatchewan Internet Child Exploitation Unit (SICEU)..The sextortion is through social media, where someone poses as a teenage girl of a similar age to the target teenage male.. Four Boys .The offender chats with the teenage male and flatters them and pretends to be in some sort of relationship with the victim..After the offender establishes a rapport with the victim, they offer to send intimate images of themselves to the victim..The offender asks the victim to send intimate images back as they showed intimate images first..Once the offender has the “sexualized personal images,” the offender threatens to send the images to the victim’s family and friends..The only way to stop the images from being sent is to send money to the offender repeatedly..In October, the SICEU had over a dozen reports of this sextortion scheme..The suspects in most of these cases are overseas, making it difficult to identify and prosecute. .The SICEU warns parents to have “age-appropriate conversations” with their children about online personal safety and what to do if they encounter an uncomfortable situation..To learn more about the prevention of child exploitation and support for those affected by child exploitation, visit cybertip.ca.For sextortion specific information, visit cybertip.ca/en/online-harms/sextortion/
