Significant increase in Sextortion attempts

Dear Jackson Students and Families,

We have recently been informed of a significant increase in sextortion attempts amongst youth locally, across BC, and throughout the world. For the safety of our youth, please take the time to read through and discuss the information below with your child. This can happen to anyone!

Most of the information below is a summary of information available on the website cybertip.ca. Please take the time to visit https://www.cybertip.ca/en/online-harms/sextortion/ to gain a better understanding of the sophisticated tactics often used by extorters.

What is Sextortion?

Simply put, sextortion is blackmail. It’s when someone online threatens to send a sexual image or video of you to other people if you don’t pay the person or provide more sexual content.

How does the Sextortion occur?

Often youth are contacted online through a social media platform and tricked into believing they are communicating with someone of a similar age. The individual who makes contact eventually sends a sexual photo of themselves (most likely fake) and asks for one in exchange. If a sexual photo is sent in return the extorter will then threaten to leak the content online and/or share with the youth’s friends/family if they don’t comply.

If you believe your child is a potential victim of sextortion or other malicious online behaviour, please contact the police as soon as possible.  

What does the law say?

It is important to note that section 163.1 of the criminal code states that,

“There are criminal code offences for making, distributing, accessing, or possessing child pornography of youth under the age of 18”

This would include any sexual photos/videos exchanged between youth online. Furthermore, Bill C-13 Section 162.1 (1) states that,

“Everyone who knowingly publishes, distributes, transmits, sells, makes available or advertises an intimate image of a person knowing that the person depicted in the image did not give their consent to that conduct, or is being reckless as to whether or not that person gave their consent is guilty of an indictable offence and liable for jail time of maximum 5 years.”

As a result, if you ever receive a message from an unknown sender do not open it. If you accidently open a message that contains sexual content delete it immediately.

What are our next steps?

School District 83 is in the process of planning parent and student presentations to further educate families about online threats and safely navigating the digital world. In the meantime, parents are encouraged to closely monitor their child’s online behaviour and become familiar with the various social media platforms being used by youth. The Safer Schools Together website on “Raising Digitally Responsible Youth” is a great place to start.

LINK: https://saferschoolstogether.com/news-events/raising-digitally-responsible-youth-a-parents-guide/

Thank you for taking the time to read this important message and please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

Gord Ritchie                                        Rhys Waters

Principal                                              Vice-Principal