Child 'sextortion' reports on the rise during pandemic: national tip line

 

TORONTO -- Sextortion - the act of blackmailing someone online using their nude photos or content as a threat or coercion - is on the rise in Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic, a child protection agency says.

The national tip line for reporting online sexual exploitation of children, Cybertip.ca, which is owned and operated by the Canadian Centre for Child Protection, says they have seen an 88-per-cent increase of sextortion and other online exploitation reports to the tip line since the pandemic began.

In an email to CTVNews.ca Tuesday, the Canadian Centre for Child Protection (CCCP) said the 88 per cent increase in reports includes “multiple forms of online sexual exploitation of children,” including children receiving explicit images, videos or messages from adults, being coerced into making and sending explicit content or having sexual images or videos of themselves be shared online.

On average, Cybertip.ca receives 40 reports of sextortion a month the organization said in a release, with many offenders connecting with children and teens through apps such as Snapchat, Facebook and Omegle.  (more...)

Child 'sextortion' reports on the rise during pandemic: national tip line

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