The Winnipeg-based agency says it opened 322 cases this July, compared to 85 in July 2021 and just 15 in July 2019. Of those 322 cases last month, 92 percent involved boys or young men. In the past, the center mainly saw cases of girls and young women being blackmailed into compromise, but that has changed, said Stephen Sauer, director of Cybertip.ca at CCCP. “The difference is that for young girls, what we see is often that people have a sexual interest in girls, and so they want to get more images, get videos of them to feed that sexual interest,” she said. . “In this case with the boys, the difference is that these individuals really don’t have that sexual interest, but they have the drive to make money.” Stephen Sauer, director of Cybertip.ca at the Canadian Child Protection Centre, says the center is seeing more reports of young boys being blackmailed for compromising photos. (Karen Pauls/CBC) In many of these cases, the perpetrators manipulate teenagers to blackmail them into giving them money, often impersonating the young woman on social media platforms such as Snapchat or Instagram, he said. “Recognizing that young people, especially boys at that age, are vulnerable to manipulative tactics to get them to engage in sexual acts online … biologically, they basically move to quickly comply with these kinds of requests,” he said. “There is a lot of shame associated with this, so they will also comply with the payment to hopefully mitigate the distribution of that image or video.” It’s something Derek Lints knows all too well. His son, Daniel, a Manitoba teenager who was a hard-working athlete and student, took his own life in February after being sexually exploited online. In an email Thursday, Lints said he would like to see governments step in and impose more regulations on tech companies. LISTEN | The parents of Daniel Lints, a 17-year-old victim of sexual exploitation, speak to The Current: Current27:01 Manitoba teen kills himself after being sexually blackmailed online. His parents want other families to know the dangers Daniel Lints was a 17-year-old boy from Manitoba who was blackmailed after being forced to share an explicit image of himself with someone online. Shortly thereafter, Daniel died by suicide. Guest Duncan McCue talks to Daniel’s parents about what other families want to know. and discusses the danger of online blackmail with Signy Arnason, deputy executive director of the Canadian Center for Child Protection.
Police are issuing warnings
The increase in these types of crimes has prompted police agencies around the world to issue urgent warnings about blackmail involving boys and young men. Nova Scotia RCMP issued one of those warnings in late July after seeing a large number of cash-motivated sales reports targeting boys and girls. The RCMP used to see mostly extortion cases involving girls and women, but that has changed recently, said Corporal Chris Marshall of the RCMP in Nova Scotia. “I think that’s what scammers are potentially seeing, is that this type of scam, not only does it often work with young girls and young women, but it also works with young men and boys,” he said. It’s understandable that people will feel uncomfortable coming forward, but they need to realize that they were victims of a crime and it needs to be reported as soon as possible, he said. “You have to realize that someone is taking advantage of you and that’s not OK,” he said. His advice? “Simply, if you fall victim to this, it would just be to stop all contact immediately and contact the local police.”
Youth perspective
Part of the issue is that social media has never been more integral to young people’s lives, said Darius Blades, a Brampton, Ont., teenager who works as a consultant with OneChild.ca, an organization focused on preventing the sexual exploitation of children. . “Personally, I feel like that dependency comes from the fact that, you know, social media was something that we were kind of introduced to. We grew up with it,” he said. Some work OneChild.ca does involves destigmatizing the issue so youth don’t feel embarrassed to come forward when they’re victimized, she said. “I think a lot of the issue also comes from the fact that when it happens to you, they don’t necessarily feel comfortable coming forward,” he said. “They might feel embarrassed almost because, you know, they might think they’re alone in it and they think they’re alone in their experiences and what’s happening to them.” Blades says he thinks it’s important for parents to talk to their kids about it, not lecture them. “I know I shouldn’t be sending these kinds of pictures to strangers on the internet, but regardless, it’s still happening,” he said. “Look at your kids as people like, you know, real sentient beings with their own thoughts and opinions about a lot of these situations. Ask them where they’re coming from on these issues.”
