More Children And Teenagers Are Being Forced Into 'Sextortion' By Online Sexual Predators

Sexual predators are turning their focus on the internet to prey on victims. Online sextortion, or online sexploitation, is now a thing where children and teenagers are being blackmailed by sexual predators into sending explicit photos and videos.

According to the victims of online sextortion, sexual predators send them threatening text messages from an anonymous number. Victims send their photos to the predators in the hopes that the harassment will stop, but it only fuels the perpetrators even further, ABC News reported.

The victims, who are usually children and teenagers, are being forced by sexual predators into sending explicit or nude photos and videos, which were then used to blackmail the victims into sending more inappropriate content. That kind of intimidation can last for weeks, months and even years, cyber security expert Fred Lane said.

One victim said her explicit photos went public when she stopped sending nudes to a sexual predator. The pictures were sent to her family and friends and were shared on pornographic websites.

Parents Advised To Be More Vigilant

Experts said parents should supervise and be proactive when it comes to their children's online activity. Callahan Walsh, who works at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, said parents with children who are being harassed online should call the center's cyber tip line. Walsh added that parents should contact the authorities as well if such harassments occur.

Detective Erin Schweitzer of the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office Intercept Task Force said there should be trust between parents and their children, KOIN.com reported. Kids should feel comfortable with opening up to their parents if a stranger on the internet acts suspiciously.

Kids As Young As 13 Victimized

The average age of online sextortion victims is 15 years old, with majority of the cases involving young girls, FOX 13 wrote. In Malaysia, girls as young as 13 are being coerced into a modus operandi called cyber sexual grooming, where the victims are trained by perpetrators into performing sexual acts via the internet, according to Free Malaysia Today.

Malaysia's Women, Family and Community Development Minister Rohani Abdul Karim said foreigners also use the internet to sexually exploit teenage girls and children. Among them is American pedophile Blake Robert Johnston, who was given a 30-year prison sentence on April 6, Malay Mail Online wrote.

The U.S. Department of Justice said one in seven children get unwanted sexual solicitation via the internet from predators. Experts warned there are some social media apps that promote conversing or video chatting with strangers, a way which benefits online sexual predators.