As a mom who worried everyday about my daughter’s online safety when she was a tweener and teen, I can finally breathe easier now that she is an adult. To all the parents and caring adults out there, we want to help you breathe easier as well.
Throughout October, OUR Rescue released resources, including a downloadable guide about child sextortion.
We know today’s children spend a huge part of their lives online. They play games, socialize on apps like Snapchat, and participate in online communities. They also can encounter pedophiles and other criminals posing as “friends”.
Sextortion has become a grave threat to children online
It’s a form of blackmail that involves threatening to distribute private, sensitive, or compromising images or videos of the target unless they provide more images, sexual favors, money, or other forms of compensation. In 2023 alone, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) received 26,718 reports of finance-related sextortion.
Sextortion can be deadly: The case of Alexander McCartney
Earlier this month, Alexander McCartney, a prolific pedophile in Northern Ireland, was given a life sentence for his predatory actions against children, carrying a mandatory minimum of 20 years in jail.
McCartney would pose as a 13-year-old girl, befriend girls online, and ask for their pictures. He kept records of their Snapchat locations. Over time, he’d blackmail them for more extreme images. He would coerce the children to take explicit pictures of themselves, sometimes with younger siblings, pets, or objects. He also shared those pictures with other pedophiles.
One of the most prolific pedophiles, McCartney reportedly targeted around 3,500 children in more than 30 countries—ages 10 to 16. His arrest included 50 blackmail offenses. And most heartbreaking, he pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Cimarron Thomas, a 12-year-old girl he had abused online. She took her own life in 2018 after she refused to take pictures of her younger sister.
Sextortion is a serious and mortal danger to our kids. But we can help.
OUR Rescue’s guide: “Understanding Sextortion: How to Keep Kids Safe” provides practical and easy to understand information for caring adults including:
- Staggering statistics about sextortion
- Types of sextortion
- Sextortion perpetrators
- 5 ways to help kids recognize and avoid sextortion
- What to do if a child is a victim of online sextortion
We hope this guide will empower parents, educators, and kids to learn how to identify and avoid sextortion scams and how to address the dangers with children and teens. Keeping all our kids safe from predators is a key part of OUR Rescue’s education and prevention mission. From my family to yours, we can all do our part to prevent this tragedy from happening to our loved ones by taking time to teach ourselves and our kids about the dangers of sextortion.
— Tammy Lee, OUR Rescue CEO