The Alberta RCMP is sharing online safety advice with youth throughout September, urging young people to learn how to recognize and respond to cyberbullying and sextortion.
RCMP officials said young people can encounter risks online and that learning safe internet practices can help protect themselves and others.
The RCMP describes sextortion as a form of online blackmail in which someone threatens to distribute a sexual image or video unless the victim meets a demand, such as sending money or providing additional intimate content. Offenders may pretend to be the same age as their targets and use fake or incomplete social-media profiles. Warning signs can include expressing strong feelings early in a conversation, pressuring someone to move to a private platform or asking for intimate images or videos.
People targeted by sextortion should stop communicating with the offender and avoid complying with demands or sending money, images or other content. They should also preserve evidence, including screenshots of messages, usernames, profiles and images connected to the incident.
People targeted by sextortion should preserve their social-media accounts and evidence of the interaction while following advice from police or the platform involved.
Victims are encouraged to speak with a trusted adult, parent, guardian, Elder or another support person.
Sextortion can also be reported to the social-media platform involved, local police and Cybertip.ca. Cybertip.ca accepts anonymous reports of online child sexual exploitation.
People who need help dealing with the sharing or threatened sharing of intimate images can also turn to NeedHelpNow.ca for information, support and assistance with removal.
Cyberbullying involves using computers, smartphones or other digital devices to embarrass, threaten, harass, exclude or otherwise harm someone online.
RCMP officials advise people targeted by cyberbullying not to respond to abusive messages or posts and to preserve messages, screenshots and other evidence. They can also block and report the person responsible and speak with a trusted adult, parent, guardian, Elder or another support person.
Cyberbullying can also be reported to a school or the website or app where it occurred. Police should be contacted if someone feels threatened or believes a crime has been committed.
Const. Scott Sterling of the ALERT Internet Child Exploitation Unit is reminding victims of sextortion or cyberbullying that they are not at fault and that help is available.
“Youth can support one another by being active bystanders. If you witness cyberbullying or sextortion, speak up, offer support, and help connect victims with trusted adults and available resources,” Sterling said.
The Alberta RCMP encourages youth to practise safe online habits, limit the personal information they share and seek help from a trusted adult or police when they encounter harmful or threatening behaviour online.
