More teen boys on P.E.I. falling victim to sextortion, including 3 this past weekend

Teen boys and young men on P.E.I. are falling victim to what police are calling the growing and underreported global crime of sextortion.

There were 63 cases of sextortion in RCMP jurisdiction on P.E.I. in 2023. There have been 34 so far this year, including three over the past weekend.

The boys were targeted on social media platforms where strangers pose as age-appropriate girls asking for sexual photo swaps, said RCMP Cpl. Gavin Moore.

Sometimes the culprits will ask for a picture of the teen’s room, and they will superimpose a sexual image into the photo as a way to extort them.

“The boys and men believe that they are engaged with a person of similar age who seems to have a romantic interest in them,” Moore said.

“They’re coaxed into photo exchanges that lead to compromising photos of a sexual nature. And once these scammers have a compromising photo, they then blackmail victims, threatening to show these photos to friends and family.”

Moore said police see a similar pattern around the world, though it likely gets underreported. Scammers know their victims may be uncomfortable reporting it to police.

“They really are preying on the embarrassment that can come from a situation like this. You know, teens are learning to be adults. They’re learning to deal with adult subjects, and scammers are exploiting teens by doing this.”

RCMP are advising parents to speak with their teens and make them aware of the scam.

“I think it’s easy to say that all parents did not grow up with this as an issue online,” Moore said. “Technology has brought about a new challenge, a new thing that parents need to be aware of to help protect their kids.”

Advice for families

RCMP said actions families can take include:

• Urging children not to accept social media friend requests from strangers.

• Stress that it’s bad to share intimate images and videos online.

• Talk about how you would handle such a situation.

• Check out to NeedHelpNow.ca for many other useful resources.

• Ensure that your social media settings are as private as possible and turn off location-based services.

If your child has been targeted:

• Report it to your nearest RCMP detachment or local police.

• Immediately stop all communication with the suspect.

• Ensure you and your child do not comply with the threat.

• Keep any correspondence between you or your child and the suspect.

• Remember that you are not alone; there is help.