PRINCE GEORGE, British Columbia (LifeSiteNews) – The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) has said that a 12-year-old boy tragically took his own life because of being traumatized after falling victim to a “sextortion” scam online that experts have warned is skyrocketing in Canada due to the proliferation of pornography.
According to the RCMP in Prince George, British Columbia, the boy was found injured from a gunshot wound on October 12, 2023, at his home and was taken to a hospital. Unfortunately, he died later the same day. After an investigation, it was found that the boy killed himself over an online “sextortion” scam.
According to Cpl. Jennifer Cooper of the Prince George RCMP, as per the Vancouver Sun, the investigation into the boy’s death shows that “some things on his phone that didn’t quite add up.”
RCMP said that looking into the boy’s messages, it determined that he was indeed a victim of “sextortion.”
Cooper noted that “while not every case of online sextortion will end in tragedy,” the consequences of this kind of “activity” can follow a “youth for their entire life, which needs to be something we talk about openly with our kids.”
“Sextortion,” as it is called, can best be described as a person being sexually blackmailed online. Often, a perpetrator will threaten to expose a person by releasing naked pictures of them (which they may or may not have) in exchange for money or even sexual favors in return. Police say this type of online fraud is most common among 13- to 18-year-olds.
“Simply put, sextortion is blackmail,” the Canadian Centre for Child Protection (C3P) said, noting in the last six months there has been a “150% increase in reports of sextortion to Cybertip.ca.”
According to C3P, sextortion is “when someone online threatens to send a sexual image or video of the child/youth to other people if they don’t pay the person or provide more sexual content.”
C3P says that 84% of “sextortion” incidents in Canada occurred on Snapchat, a popular social media messaging platform, with 91% of the victims being male. Instagram was also listed as a social media platform used to lure young boys in.
The scam works by a young male being “tricked into believing they are talking to a young girl.”
“They chat over a short period of time, usually several hours, but in some as little as 20 minutes,” noted C3P, saying, “Sextorters convince their victims to exchange sexual content and often start the trade by sharing a sexual photo first.
“The targeted youth then sends a sexual photo or video or are tricked into exposing themselves or engaging in a sexual act over a livestream and being unknowingly recorded.”
After this point, the youth is then blackmailed to either pay large sums of money or perform sexual favors by sending more explicit photos or videos.
In Prince George alone this year, the RCMP says it has received 62 reports of online sextortion. This amount has already surpassed those of 2022, when a total of 56 reports were lodged.
In Canada, one of the most recent “sextortion” cases that garnered a lot of attention involved that of Amanda Todd, who in 2012, at 15, killed herself due to having been harassed for years after being “sextorted” online.
It was not until August 2022 that Dutch national Aydin Coban was convicted of communicating with a young person to commit a sexual offense and possession and distribution of child pornography, and extortion, harassment. He was given a 13-year jail sentence.
In Canada, law enforcement agencies have sounded the alarm over the recent increase in online “sextortion” threats targeting kids in Canada.
LifeSiteNews has written about “sextortion” and how it skyrocketed by 88% amid the COVID lockdowns.
Do ‘not’ give your ‘kids a smartphone,’ pro-family expert says
LifeSiteNews’ Jonathon Van Maren recently wrote about how often “deadly sextortion” scams are a threat to a generation of young boys.
He documented how many of the scams work, such as one involving a person getting an email to the effect of “I have hacked your computer’s camera and recorded you while you were watching porn. If you do not send me X amount of dollars, I will send the video to all of the email addresses on your contact list.”
Van Maren noted how for those who do not watch pornography online, it is easier to see that this kind of email is a scam. However, he noted that as a “majority of teen boys, even in Christian communities” suffer from pornography addiction, they easily fall prey to such scams.
“Christian parents should not be naïve: sexting is happening in our communities, as well,” Van Maren said.
“I’ve spoken to thousands of students this year, and sexting is taking place in every Christian school I’ve spoken at (on the subject of pornography). Many of the parents in the Post article noted their regret at giving their children phones, without which these scams could not have happened.”
Van Maren noted directly to help combat your child falling victim, “Don’t give your kids a smartphone, and don’t allow them – if possible – to have social media platforms like Instagram and Snapchat.”
“Many, many parents – and their kids – have had reason to profoundly regret it,” he noted.
CP3 runs the Cybertip.ca website, which people can use to submit reports concerning the online sexual abuse and exploitation of children.