Protect yourself from sexual extortions on social media

North Vancouver RCMP is warning both youth and adults to be aware of ongoing online sexual extortions and are encouraging parents to talk to their kids about the dangers of sex extortions.

Sextortion scams that are reported generally involve victims being coerced into sending money or sending sexually explicit images or videos of themselves. These scams can occur in as little as 20 minutes.

Commonly, males are targeted and deceived into believing they are communicating online with a female. Scammers create fake profiles on social media and dating websites, which they use to lure a person into performing sexual acts on camera. The scammer records the session and threatens to send the image or video to family, friends and/or other people unless they receive money or additional sexual content.

Offenders often share screen captures of the victim’s contacts or other identifying information (school, home address) so that the threat appears more credible and the victim is scared into complying with their request.

Officers from our Youth Support Team will be partaking in presentations in the upcoming weeks to educate students in North Vancouver School District about the dangers of sexual extortions.

How to protect yourself:

• Recognize that live streaming can be recorded and that pre-recorded video can be livestreamed;
• Familiarize yourself with social media privacy settings and consider limiting who has access to your personal information (i.e. friends list, location);
• Do not share intimate images or videos as once you share you don’t have control over what someone else does with it;
• Unless you know the person offline, there is no way to confirm who is on the other end;
• Trust your instincts, be skeptical and cautious; and
• Visit Cybertip to learn more

 On the Internet:

• Do not give out personal information or information about your computer.
• Do not open email, files, or links from people you do not know and trust.
• Be very mindful in sharing information on ‘Personal Websites

If you are a victim of sextortion:

• Immediately stop all communication. Deactivate (but don’t delete) any of the accounts you are using to communicate with the individual.
• Do not comply with the threat. In other words, never pay money and never send additional nudes. The situation will not get better by doing either of these things.
• If you have sent money, check to see if it has been collected and, if not, quickly cancel the payment.
• Make a police report
• Keep the correspondence. Keep information such as the person’s username(s), social media account information, a copy of the communications, along with any images and/or videos that were sent.
• Talk to a trusted adult or counsellor
• Visit needhelpnow.ca for more information