Is your teen in danger of being threatened with “sextortion?” What every parent needs to know!

Many parents have never heard the term “sextortion” or probably think it is some new game about sex. What it is, however, is the latest threat against our teens. Teens, who are having “fun” online by visiting chat rooms, flashing their breasts or sending nude photos of themselves to their boyfriends via their cell phones, are finding themselves victim of a new type of disgusting predator.

Random strangers are finding these compromising images online, contacting the teen and threatening to post the photos on their Facebook, MySpace and other social media sites unless the teen poses for even more sexually explicit photos. Some have even been blackmailed into having sex with the predator. In one recent case an 18-year-old man received 15 years in prison after prosecutors said he posed as a girl on Facebook, tricked male high school classmates into sending him nude cell phone photos, and then used the photos as extortion for sex.

It seems that there is no limit to the disgusting depths these creeps will stoop to reach our teens. Unfortunately, kids are still not realizing that anything they post online is fair game and can be intercepted by anyone. Once this happens, teens feel desperate and will do anything to prevent the photos from being posted.

What’s even more disturbing is that at times, it’s not even that the kids are posting the photos. Rather, criminals have been hacking into webcams and capturing victims undressing and having sex without their knowledge. In yet another recent case, a 31-year-old California man was arrested on extortion charges after authorities said he hacked into more than 200 computers and threatened to expose nude photos he found, unless their owners posed for more sexually explicit videos.

So how do we protect ourselves and our teens? Keep in mind to never post or send any explicit photos to anyone and remember that webcams are not always secure. The best way to protect your privacy is to keep it private!
 

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