Greensburg, PA -- Westmoreland County District Attorney Nicole W. Ziccarelli is issuing a public safety warning, on behalf of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Pennsylvania, in partnership with Homeland Security Investigations – Philadelphia, the Federal Bureau of Investigation – Pittsburgh and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Investigators are warning about an alarming increase in the online exploitation of children and teens. Over 3,000 minor victims have been targeted in the past year across the United States, alone.

Online extortion reports involving minors have dramatically spiked in recent months – including reports of sextortion.

“Sextortion” occurs when an individual, often a child, is threatened or blackmailed, usually online, by a person demanding sexual content or money from the child against his or her will.

Sextortion schemes occur in online environments where young people feel most comfortable using common social media sites, gaming sites or video chat applications that feel familiar and safe.

Predators are often using fake female accounts and target minor males between 14- and 17-years old. Some as young as 10 years old have been reported.

There are resources available for talking to your child. Prevention is key to helping unsuspecting children from falling victim to online predators. These resources are being shared to make the conversation easier between you and your child. A documentary, “Sextortion: The Hidden Pandemic”, by Auroris Media, explores a large-scale HSI investigation. It’s available on all major streaming devices. The producers of the film, in partnership with the National Center for Missing Children, used parts of the documentary to create resources to share with parents and educators.

The resource modules with discussion guides can be found at: https://www.missingkids.org/blog/2022/sextortion-the-hidden-pandemic

Additional information, resources and conversation guides are available at: http://www.fbi.gov/StopSextortion

HSI and the FBI encourage the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity. Tips can be reported to HIS by phone at 1-866-347-2423 or by completing an online tip form here: ICE Tip Form | ICE – or you can contact your local FBI field office at 412-432-4000 or online at tips.fbi.gov.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has outlined steps parents and young people can take if they or their child are a victim of sextortion, including:
• Remember, the predator is to blame, not your child or you.
• Get help before deciding whether to pay money or otherwise comply with the predator. Cooperating or paying rarely stops the blackmail and continued harassment.
• REPORT the predator’s account via the platform’s safety feature.
• BLOCK the predator and DO NOT DELETE the profile or messages because that can be helpful to law enforcement in identifying and stopping them.
• Let NCMEC help get explicit images of you off the internet.
• Visit org/IsYourExplicitContentOutThere to learn how to notify companies yourself or visit cybertipline.org to report to us for help with the process.
• Ask for help. This can be a very complex problem and may require help from adults or law enforcement.
• If a victim does not feel that they have adults in their corner, the child can reach out directly to NCMEC for support at gethelp@ncmec.org or call NCMEC at 1-800-THE-LOST.