FBI Charlotte warns parents of increased risk of sextortion during holiday

NORTH CAROLINA (WTVD) -- Wednesday, the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Charlotte field office issued a warning for parents, caregivers, and teens on the increased risk for sextortion attempts during the holiday break.

Sextortion is when adults pose as teens and manipulate or entice victims to share sexually explicit images, then extort victims for additional photos or money.

The agency said sextortion cases are skyrocketing across the country, especially financial sextortion targeting teenage boys.

In financial sextortion cases, the predator poses as a young girl and uses deception and manipulation to convince a young male to engage in explicit activity over a video that is secretly recorded by the scammer. The agency said the scammer then takes the recording and extorts the victim for money by threatening to pay or have the photos or videos posted online.

According to the FBI Charlotte, between 2022 and 2023, the agency saw a 20 percent increase in reports of sextortion.

Sextortion happens when scammers use fake identities online, and claim to have compromising pictures of the victim.

Here are ways to protect your child online:

• Be selective about what you share online, especially your personal information and passwords. If your social media accounts are open to everyone, a predator may be able to figure out a lot of information about you or your children.

• Be wary of anyone you encounter for the first time online. Block or ignore messages from strangers.

• Be aware that people can pretend to be anyone online. Videos and photos are not proof that a person is who they claim to be.

• Be suspicious if you meet someone on a game or app and they ask you to start talking to them on a different platform.

• Encourage children to report suspicious behavior to a trusted adult.

If you believe you or someone you know is the victim of sextortion:

• Contact local law enforcement or the FBI at tips.fbi.gov or the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) at ic3.gov.

• Do not delete anything on your device before law enforcement is able to review it.

• Tell law enforcement everything about the encounters you had online; it may be embarrassing, but it is necessary to find the offender and can protect other children.

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