The FBI has issued a warning about various online groups targeting young people, persuading them to record sexually explicit acts, acts of self-harm, and various acts of violence.
The FBI’s Pittsburgh field office recently issued a warning about an increase in “sextortion” cases involving juveniles.
The agency held a press conference last week to provide information on what parents and children should be careful about when accessing the Internet.
According to the FBI’s website, various online groups target young people between the ages of 8 and 17 and persuade them to record sexually explicit acts, acts of self-harm, and various acts of violence.
The group often uses information and threats gleaned from public social media profiles to blackmail victims. The recordings are then used to carry out further extortion.
Tom Korencik, a spokesman for the Uniontown Police Department, said parents should set up parental controls on their children’s phones if they haven’t already done so.
“It’s a must,” Korencik said.
The agency added that what it believes would be helpful for parents is to enter into “contracts” with their children that set parameters around mobile phone use and internet access.
Children may benefit from having their mother or father pay the fee, but that means the parent has free access to the phone and must approve every social media post or photo sent. accompanies.
Korencik noted that Uniontown has not received any complaints about youth interacting with strangers online. A more common problem is young people sharing sexually explicit photos with each other.
“Kids are taking pictures of other kids and sending them. It’s just a fact,” Korencik said.
He added that young people need to be aware that they are committing a crime when creating or sharing this material.
Uniontown Police don’t tend to deal with children who are targeted by online criminals, but they have seen this happen with adults.
Korencik said the department has received reports of people extorting money from people they met on dating sites after sharing photos with them. In such cases, they tend to threaten to share inappropriate photos with the victim’s friends and family unless they pay money.
Korencik said the threat to share the photo was “not a bluff.”
However, when it comes to children, the FBI encourages parents to actively monitor their children’s Internet use and to be cautious when posting photos and personal content online.
Korencik said it’s important for juvenile victims to feel like they can tell a parent or adult if they are in a situation where they feel unsafe or threatened in any way. He said establishing a “no questions asked” policy could help in this regard. This simply means that boys understand that their safety and well-being is paramount.
“That child knows that I can call mom or dad or a guardian and we can talk about it another day,” Korencik said. “The boys themselves are more accepting of that than you might think.”
