Saskatchewan’s Internet Child Exploitation unit has seen online “sextortion” cases spike in the past few months, reporting 31 new cases in the province since November 2022.
“Often times, people aren’t who they say they are,” said Staff Sgt. Tim Failler, provincial ICE unit coordinator. “People can come up with very good fake profiles on Snapchat and Instagram.”
He said that they initiate conversations online with the child after they build a relationship with them.
“They are requesting videos or images of the child undressed.”
Failler said that one of the major concerns regarding children using the internet across the country is sextortion, which is when an online perpetrator threatens to send explicit images or videos of an individual to other people if they do not comply with their demands.
However, ICE is experiencing difficulty investigating the reports.
“The suspects are often times overseas and in areas that the police don’t have the same authority as we do here in Canada,” Failler said.
“I have concerns about what’s available on social media, but I think if you are parenting and being open and honest with your child, it’s not a big concern,” said a Regina resident.
She said her child and herself talk about everything regarding social media.
“We talk about what she is looking at and what she is allowed to look at. If she sees stuff, she is not sure about, she asks me about it.”
Alec Couros, University of Regina director for the Centre of Teaching and Learning, said that normally parents can start to suspect an online perpetrator if their child begins to become more secretive about their phone.
“They will spend more time in the bathroom or the bedroom sending messages and they might have some protectiveness over their phone,” Couros said.
Failler said that parents must practice a balance between privacy and prevention methods to protect their children.
“It’s not really a matter of ‘if’ this is going to happen to your child. As far as being contacted online by somebody they don’t know, it’s really ‘when.'”
In recent cases across Canada, approximately 70 per cent of victims have been teenage boys, and the suspects are typically searching for financial gain.
The perpetrator poses as someone of the opposite sex and appears to be of similar age to the victim. They claim to have mutual friends or go to a nearby school to engage the victim in conversation before turning the conversation into something romantic and requesting explicit content.
“As parents and teachers, we need to help them (teenagers) understand it better,” Couros said. “Being educated and being knowledgeable about what happens online and what the potential downfalls are, is really important.”
ICE recommends cybertip.ca as a resource for parents or guardians of children who are involved in online exploitation cases.
The tipline has the authority to contact social media platforms and remove photos and images from the suspect’s profile. Educational resources are also provided.