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The conversation surrounding sextortion cases is picking up steam across Canada.
It comes after a 12-year-old boy in B.C. committed suicide after being the victim in a sextortion case.
Sextortion is the practice of acquiring something, usually money, by threatening to expose a victim’s nude or explicit photos or videos online.
Between November of 2022 and the end of January, Saskatchewan’s Internet Child Exploitation Unit said it received 35 reports of sextortion in the province. The ICE unit said it gets an average of 10 to 15 reports every month.
Brian Trainor, a retired Saskatoon police officer, now works to spread awareness around sextortion cases and other online concerns like cyberbullying.
Speaking on The Evan Bray Show this week, Trainor described the dangers of sextortion and the threat some people pose online.
“There’s adults or predators known as ‘groomers.’ They aren’t so much interested in money as they are in sexual activity. They’ll groom these kids online pretending they’re a mentor or a sympathetic ear,” Trainor told Bray.
“They’ll eventually work their way into a trust situation and eventually try to meet them in person.”
Trainor said a majority of the tips his company receives come from boys who are between 12 and 19 years old.
“They’re targeted mostly by organized crime for money. It’s an international cash cow,” he said.
According to Trainor, those who are lonely, lack friends and have low self-esteem are at the highest risk for online exploitation.
“They’re primed for anyone who will buddy up with them,” Trainor stated.
For those who might be victims of cases like sextortion or extortion, Trainor suggested a simple way to get out of the situation.
“Do not keep chatting with (these people). Block them,” he said. “But before you do that, do not erase all the messages. Keep the message and make yourself a detective.”
By keeping the message, Trainor said victims can report that evidence to police, who then have better odds of tracking that person down.
“(Investigators) can ping these addresses,” he stated. “They’ll show the maps where they’re located, and it’s amazing what they can find out.”
Trainor said sextortion incidents are most common on apps like Snapchat, Instagram and Discord.