Its silly how much information we provide online. If you think about the amount of information you share with other via Facebook, Twitter, Snap chat , etc.… Its amazing that Sextortion has not gotten bigger faster. The adults in my age group did not grow up with the net, so we don’t trust as easily or at least most of us don’t. However kids today who have had the net all their lives don’t always think about what they are doing online.
If they are playing games online they may think they know someone for a long time. What they really know is the persons screen name and what that person decided to share or make up about themselves. Over time trust can build up to the point that your young adult or teenager might not think much about sharing some risky or even sexual acts with their “friend” not even thinking about who else might see it.
It’s a much different world today then it was 20 years ago. Anything can be transmitted in less then a second for the entire world to see.
While there are tons of great things about the net, there are also some major downfalls. The “new” thing is sextortion .
Small part of the article from WP ;
At Mason, police said that unidentified suspects had gained the trust of two students over the web in the past week, then enticed them to broadcast sex acts through their webcams. “The suspects then recorded the footage of the victims,” Capt. Brian R. Cozby wrote in the e-mail, “and threatened to circulate the videos on the Internet unless the victims paid $5,000.”
Scary how something these young adults thought would be private is now being used to threaten them. Now you must ask yourself how many young adults end up not reporting this?
As a parent its our jobs to remind our children , yes even those young adult kids we have, that trust is something that is earned overtime and a real friend would not ask you to putting on this type of show.
It’s easy for something like this to happen, person comes home after a night out partying, and is more open to suggestions from their online “friend” , what could it hurt? Sadly the pain is mainly mental when these types of things happen.
While there is no going back from the net, there are some simple rules we can teach our kids. The main one is if you don’t want your Mom or I to see it, don’t post it.
More information can be found here, National Strategy for Child Exploitation Prevention and Interdiction