Feds cite ‘explosion’ in child sextortion cases, FBI, DHS issue national public safety alert

Kevin Johnson reports:

Citing an “explosion” of online sextortion cases involving children, federal authorities Monday issued an unusual national public safety alert in an attempt to intervene in increasingly aggressive schemes linked to more than a dozen suicides in the past year.

At least 3,000 victims, primarily boys, have been identified as targets in operations largely originating outside the U.S., in which children are being coerced into sending explicit images online and then extorted for money.

Read more at USA Today.

Resources for youth and parents can be found on the FBI’s web site.