The Nez Perce County Prosecutor’s Office is raising awareness of a new threat to minors in the region regarding the sexual exploitation of children.
According to a press release, over the last several years, the office has seen a dramatic rise in “sex-tortion” cases involving kids in the community. Sexual predators use a variety of techniques through social media to lure minors. These predators create a sense of comfort with the minor-where the minor then sends nude photos as well as non-nude photos to them. Once the predator has the images, they can manipulate them using Artificial Intelligence and they attempt to extort money or additional pictures from the child by threatening to release the images.
“The Lewiston School District is deeply concerned about the safety of our students when it comes to the dangers they face in the on-line world. Please have conversations with your children of all ages if they access social media and other sites that could lead to predators contacting and taking advantage of them. We know that sextortion is real and that our students are being targeted. I am asking for the entire community to please help all of our kids understand the importance of proper on-line communication,” said Lewiston Superintendent Tim Sperber.
The best way to prevent your child from being extorted is to educate them on the dangers of social media. Some tips to keep kids safe include: monitoring conversations they have on social media apps, educating them about the dangers of the internet, the severe risks involved in sending any images of themselves to others and reassuring them that they can ask for help.
“As a parent myself, I constantly worry about predators using these new tools to target kids,” said Nez Perce County Prosecutor Justin Coleman, “I’ve had conversations with my boys many times about being careful with what they say and send electronically and also not trusting individuals they talk to through social media, especially someone they don’t know and I would encourage all parents to do the same.”
If your child has been a victim to “sex-tortion” or you want to help educate your child, please call the Lewiston Police Department at 208-746-0171 and ask to speak to a School Resource Officer.
