Buss: 'Sextortion' is becoming a much bigger threat

It’s hard to overstate how critical it is for parents to know what their kids are doing at all times online and on social media. The risk of leaving children unmonitored in the digital age has turned deadly.

Two Nigerian men pleaded guilty on April 10 in connection with a “sextortion” scheme that exploited teens in Michigan and other U.S. states. The grand jury alleged the defendants hacked social media accounts and posed as young women to lure teenage males into sexual chats.

Once they acquire an explicit photo from their targets, they extort them using information from Google about their families and where they live, as well as other personal details. They threaten to share photos online or do other damage if victims don’t pay up.

In the case of a 17-year-old boy from Marquette, the extortion — full of abusive and unspeakable texts — tragically ended with him killing himself.

Incidents of sextortion are skyrocketing — fueled by adult online predators and peer-to-peer interactions. From 2021 to 2023, there was a more than 300% increase in the number of reports CyberTipline received regarding online enticement, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).

“Most of the cases are kids like our kids,” says Christina Hines, a former prosecutor in Wayne and Washtenaw Counties who has specialized in sexual assault and child sexual abuses cases and is running for Macomb County Prosecutor. “A lot of parents don’t even realize that the danger is in their home already.

“This isn’t somebody that’s going to steal your kid at the park. These are predators. They are using our phones and our computers to attack our kids.”

It’s affecting children across all communities and socioeconomic and racial demographics, rural, suburban and urban, according to Michigan State Police.

“There is no common thread,” says Lieutenant Wesley Smith, assistant commander of the MSP regional task force administrator for the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. He says their tip line gets 60 submissions per day from Michigan. Of those, he says 10-15 are typically sextortion.

Smith’s office triages incoming tips to prioritize them according to urgency — a significant and emotionally heavy task.

“‘This will probably happen to you.’ That’s the messaging we’re giving kids now,” says Hines. “Your photo might be out on the internet.”

Helping kids understand the risk they face is important. And monitoring their activity and relationships is critical. But equally important is preparing them for how to handle sextortion it if gets to that point.

Allowing children unfettered access to even mainstream social media platforms and peer chatting often goes under the radar for parents. But prevention is the key, and often kids — even teens — don’t realize what they’re getting into.

There was an 884% increase in unsolicited obscene material sent to children from 2021 to 2023, according to NCMEC. Education and prevention are the only tools to fight the threat at our fingertips. That’s something local prosecutors and law enforcement work on with schools, community centers and other community organizations.

“Kids fear they’ll get in trouble,” says Hines. “We have to be really careful how we talk to kids about this.”

Fearing punishment or shame can keep kids quiet even when they’re being victimized by criminal online activity.

But they must learn to safely navigate the digital world. That might require uncomfortable conversations with parents. Once an image is out, it’s out. Victimization reoccurs every time that image or video is seen.

Bipartisan support for education on why and how to protect yourself could go a long way, too.

But that takes getting our arms around the exponentially growing extent to which our kids are at risk on the internet.

kbuss@detroitnews.com