ALERT warning parents of sextortion, cases on the rise in Alberta

Cases of sextortion are on the rise in Alberta and ALERT is sending out a warning to parents. Sextortion is a crime where predators target young teens, claiming they have reveling pictures or videos of the victim and will threaten to show more if their demands are not met. An official with ALERT says typically the predator will target young people through online platforms like Snapchat and Omegle.  

“Omegle, it’s the same as Snapchat. Snapchat, of course, is a lot of pictures and videos. Omegle is the same thing. Along with kick and Discord, they’re all fairly similar. Where the children will be contacted by the offenders, the initial conversation will be chat and then it’ll switch over to exchanging intimate images. And once the offenders have those intimate images the threats and the extortion will start,” said Steve Brighton, Detective, Calgary Police Service.

There is anywhere from 160-170 cases of Sextortion in Alberta right now. ALERT says typically teenage boys are the ones who are falling victim to the crime.