The Canadian Centre for Child Protection says since the pandemic began there has been an 88 per cent increase in reports to their tipline about the online sexual exploitation of children.
This year for Safer Internet Day, which is Tuesday, the Centre for Child Protection is educating about how sextortion happens and how to get help in a series of videos for youth.
A news release from the Centre describes sextortion as blackmail.
It’s when someone online threatens to send a sexual message or video of the child or youth to other people if they don’t pay or provide more sexual consent.
The organization says they receive on average 40 sextortion reports a month, and many involve offenders connecting with youth through social media.
After reporting to Cybertip.ca, the youth will be given advice on what to do next.
The tipline also provides families and educators with prevention information and how to help a youth who is being sextorted.