More Sask. teens being targeted by sextortion scams, RCMP says

Canada's tip line for reporting the online sexual exploitation of children, Cybertip.ca, now receives an average of 10 sextortion reports per day. Within these cases, 91 per cent of victims are male.

The Saskatchewan RCMP says its investigators have seen a significant rise in reports of financially-motivated online sextortion scams targeting youth between the ages of 13 and 16.

“In the reported cases, victims were approached by individuals who identified as females of a similar age online or through aps targeting teenage audiences,” RCMP said in a news release.

“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.”

No charges have yet been laid related to the reports and the investigations are ongoing, RCMP says.

• Get the CTV News app for Saskatchewan breaking news alerts and top stories 

Cases of online child sexual exploitation are on the rise across the country, according to Statistics Canada.

“The rate of police-reported incidents of online child sexual exploitation has more than doubled since the tracking of cybercrime began in 2014,” RCMP said.

“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.”

An infographic about online sextortion shared by the Saskatchewan RCMP on March 25, 2024. (Courtesy: Sask. RCMP)

The RCMP encourages parents to talk to their kids about online activities, and they’ve shared a few ground rules to keep both children and adults safe online.

First, never answer messages or friend requests from people you don’t know. Do not send photos of any kind to strangers, and always answer video calls with the camera turned off until you know who’s calling.

If you or your child has been targeted, report it to your local police, stop all communication with the suspect, do not comply with their demands, and save all correspondence to share with police as evidence.

“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” Staff Sergaent Scott Lambie of the Sask. RCMP’s major crimes branch said in the news release.

“There are people and resources available to help you and there are tools that exist to remove the images online.”