Sextortion cases soar: How to protect your kids from escalating online danger

CHICAGO - If you think the name is bad, wait until you hear how much sextortion has increased in the last year alone. Federal law enforcement says the number of financially-motivated cases jumped 1,000% from 2021 to 2022.

With school about to let out for winter break, that may have some parents concerned about how much time their kids are spending online.

In a FOX 32 special report, Elizabeth Matthews looks at what you can do if it happens to you.

"It’s not just a number. That percentage represents children out there that are having this experience," said Kevin Reynolds, an investigator with the Kane County State’s Attorney’s child exploitation unit.

Late last year, the Chicago FBI was on the hunt for David Patrick Sheffield. A federal arrest warrant had been issued for Sheffield for allegedly using social media to ask minors for sexually explicit photos and videos. In one case, investigators say he threatened to "direct and livestream the violent murder of a minor and that minor’s family."

Court records indicate at least one of Sheffield's victims is from the south suburbs.

"It is something we can prevent but it’s about getting the information out there," Reynolds said.

While they were sad to see the four-digit increase in sextortion cases, Kane County officials say there's probably even more out there.

"We kind of think it’s under-reported because there is kind of a stigma to it. There’s a little bit of shame and embarrassment that comes along with it," Reynolds said.

Brenna Russell is a social worker with the Kane County Sheriff Department's special victims unit.

"I mean sextortion can be extremely traumatic," Russell said. "And trauma can lead to depression, anxiety. A whole list of mental illnesses that a lot of people are not equipped with either identifying or how to cope with."

Which is why for Reynolds and Russell, a good part of their job is talking to the community to educate them about what their options are if they or someone else they know becomes a victim of sextortion, which includes how to determine if the online profile you are talking to is real or fake.

Reynolds said kids are quick to believe they are talking exactly to who is pictured on the profile and they are quick to share intimate details.

"If you treated an online interaction the same way you treated an in-person one, you would never be naked in front of a person within a few hours or telling them your fears, where your parents work, where you live, where you go to school," Reynolds said.

"One thing that is really prominent in society today for these children is trying to be accepted. Trying to find that sense of intimacy and it’s not how we view it. At this age after we know what is healthy," Russell said.  

While kids may feel comfortable sharing personal details online, they also feel some pressure too.

"So if I wanted to sextort somebody, and I send you a picture, a lot of kids will talk about feeling pressure to send one back. I sent you one. You send me one," Reynolds said.

He added a lot of that pressure is also self-imposed. Before you send any photos, Reynolds said take another look at the requestor's online profile.

"If I don’t know this person in real life, don’t be friends with them on the internet. That’s the easiest way to kind of defeat a lot of these profiles. If you can’t go to their house, if you can’t call them on the phone. If you don’t know them from class and don’t sit next to them, that potentially is a fake profile," Reynolds said.

No matter how convincing the profile looks, Reynolds said wait about a week before accepting a new friend request.

"Because if they are a fake profile and you wait, typically they will get reported. So the social medias are getting a lot better at identifying these profiles. They are getting a lot better about shutting them down quickly," he said.

If you didn’t wait, what should you do if you've sent a photo and are now receiving threats if you don’t send more?

"So the easiest thing to do is to stop responding. A lot of these profiles if they think your account is dead they’ll move on to the next. You are not the only kid that they’re doing this to. They’re doing this to sometimes hundreds of kids at a time," Reynolds said.

While many kids are dealing with this situation by just blocking that user, Reynolds said that’s not enough.

"Blocking them doesn’t stop somebody - just a pause. They’ll reach out again to the child," he said.

Reynolds says there is a 50% chance the blocked user will reach out again under a different profile name. Law enforcement is only notified of a user's inappropriate actions if they are reported to the app or to them.

"You can do it over the phone, you can come and do it in person. Or you can report it on the platform. I never want to discourage someone about reporting this," Reynolds said.

If you do decide to file a police report, investigators say it’s important to have the offender's username, profile photo and URL's.

In addition to police, Russell said there are other local and national resources out there to help. You just need to know where to look.

"A problem is accessibility and knowing what resources are out there. Finding a social worker or someone within the field to help connect you, point you in the right direction is a huge step as well," Russell said.

Which is another big take away from their community outreach presentations.

It’s important to note that if you decide not to respond to a sextortion threat, there is still a chance your photos will be sent out and the offender won’t just move on to the next account.

"It’s kind of a hard spot to navigate. Because you’re dealing with people who don’t necessarily care what happens," he said.

If that does happen, there is now a way to minimize the photo fallout.

"It came into existence because we saw just an absolutely crazy influx of crimes against children online," said Gavin Portnoy, vice president of communications and brand at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children runs the Take It Down program. It’s about a year old and so far they say the results have been staggering.

"So now we’re seeing on average about 2,000 unique hashes a week coming into the Take It Down platform. And as of the end of October, we were over 70,000 hashes added to the system," Portnoy said.

A hash is the digital fingerprint of an explicit photo.

"In order to create a hash you go to TakeItDown.ncmec.org. And you can create a report there. Your hash will then get added to the database that participating platforms can grab from," Portnoy said.

By being able to recognize that mark, Portnoy said these other sites help stop nude photos from being reposted and shared again and again.

"We have to remember that every time that image is transferred around the internet. Is viewed. That is re-victimizing. So at Take It Down, we’re taking away that re-victimization and really giving them hope that this will stop," Portnoy said.

Reynolds said the bottom line is this – don’t accept friend requests from people you don’t know and keep your social media profiles private.

For information on resources available to help victims of sextortion, please reference the document below: