B.C. boy’s death underscores rise of sextortion in Canada. What can be done?
Global News
Despite some steps taken by governments and social media companies to increase safety online, the number of reported instances continues to rise.
The death of a 12-year-old boy in British Columbia who police and his family say fell victim to online sextortion has advocates warning the issue is getting worse in Canada.
For years, law enforcement and researchers have been warning about the dangers of rising incidents of criminals targeting minors through sextortion, calling the problem an “epidemic” that is leading to mental health issues and suicide. Despite some steps taken by governments and social media companies to increase safety online, the number of reported instances continues to rise.
“We have a public health emergency on our hands,” Signy Arnason, the associated executive director of the Canadian Centre for Child Protection (CCCP), told Global News in an interview.
Back in September, the CCCP’s national tip line for reporting online child sexual abuse, Cybertip.ca, reported they were receiving on average 40 reports of sextortion per week. Today, that number has increased to 50 per week.
Cybertip says when the gender of victims is known, 91 per cent of those targeted in sextortion cases have been male, with teen boys between the ages of 14 and 17 most likely to be impacted.
The agency says male victims are predominantly exploited for money, as opposed to female victims who are coerced into providing more sexual images.
Statistics Canada reported last year that police-reported extortion cases in Canada rose by nearly 300 per cent in the last decade. It also says non-consensual distribution of intimate images involving adult or child victims increased by 194 cases in 2021, a nine-per-cent jump from the year before, and a 52-per-cent increase compared with the previous five-year average.
Prince George RCMP, who reported 12-year-old Carson Cleland’s death, said it has received 62 reports of online sextortion so far this year — already surpassing the 56 reports received in 2022.
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