FBI sextortion warning during the start of the new school year not accidental
Recently the FBI warned multiple states about a rise in sextortion activities. “The FBI is seeing cases that involve an adult coercing teenagers through social media into producing sexual images and videos online.” The timing of this increase is not accidental or circumstantial. It is directly related to the return of the school year and the increased time children are spending online because of Covid-19 instituted remote learning.
Students are provided with technology and access that they often do not normally have. (According to Pew Research more than four-in-ten U.S. households with income below $30,000 a year lack home broadband access.) More time is being spent online by children, and not all of it is for academic activities. Gaggle — — a digital student safety net on devices and apps that monitors all students accounts through Google and Microsoft teams — reports that “from the beginning of August to the end of September, year over year (2019 vs 2020), we at Gaggle have seen a 67% increase in students’ digital activity.”
As a clinical psychologist who once worked for the FBI’s Child Abduction Serial Killer Unit (CASKU), I encountered mainly the traditional luring and sextortion methods, which happen through online exchanges where the predator creates a “trusted relationship” with a targeted teen. However, what is most disturbing today is that tactics have shifted. Today predators are gaining access to teen’s phones through password breaches, allowing them to skip having to build rapport with teens and, instead, granting them immediate access to all content, photos, and videos those teens have on social media. Further complicating efforts to track these criminals is their recent demand for payments to be made in cryptocurrency, usually bitcoin, because of the anonymity it provides. In a recent Bitcoin.com article, British security company Sophos reported that in just one week it analyzed, millions of people worldwide had received sextortion scam emails.
It is more imperative than ever that parents be aware of certain “tell-tale” signs that may indicate trouble:
- Protective of any phone oversight by parents — (A parent walks behind a child and the child shoves the phone in a pocket, minimizes the screen, or shut the phone down to prevent the parent from seeing it)
- Obsessively checking phone as if waiting for an important call — (A child sneaks a phone to the dinner table or in places that they know are not allowed and continue checking it regardless of the consequences)
- Withdrawn into room/away from friends and/or sports — (Child begins to say things such as, “It isn’t fun, anymore” or that they “just don’t want to do it”)
- Mood shifts — (Mostly anger and explosiveness, but sometimes depressed moods also)
- Weight change, typically loss of weight (Weight change can be quite drastic with younger children in developing stages)
- Device use in bathroom (Large percentage of children video or photograph in bathrooms for privacy)
The combination or remote learning, isolation from the pandemic, and news tactics developed by child predators has created a “perfect storm” of online dangers for children. As parents our best chance of protecting our children is monitoring their digital behavior and staying alert for the signs that may be trouble.
Dr. Lisa Strohman is a Scottsdale clinical psychologist, attorney, and founder of the recently established Digital Citizen Academy — a prevention and diversion training program focused on eliminating core issues like cyber-bullying, child luring, and suicide. She is also a child sexual abuse survivor.
