Youth and their caregivers are being advised to be on the lookout for suspicious activity amid an “alarming rise” in cases of online exploitation, local police say.
Central Saanich Police Deputy Chief Kevin Hackett warned that sharing of intimate photos online is “extremely risky,” and can lead to unintended further distribution and exploitation.
He said the warning is especially important as a growing number of children enter the online world at ever younger ages.
Central Saanich is one of the police departments that participate in the six-member Greater Victoria Integrated Child Exploitation Team, re-established in 2024 to fight online child exploitation after being discontinued two years before.
The team also includes specially trained officers from the Victoria, Saanich, Oak Bay and Saanich police departments, and collaborates with a similar provincial RCMP unit.
Hackett said the team’s integrated approach is “critical” to the growing child-exploitation threat.
Central Saanich police Sgt. Paul Brailey, who leads the team, said bringing police departments together increases efficiency and combines officers’ expertise.
He said child-exploitation cases have been rising in B.C., especially in the past three to four years. Last year, the team dealt with about 140 cases, while so far this year it’s seen about 70 cases.
Statistics Canada figures from 2022 show police-reported extortion cases related to child exploitation increased by close to 300 per cent nationally in the previous decade. The National Child Exploitation Crime Centre received more than 100,000 reports from 2023-24.
Those reports were linked to such offences as sextortion, child luring, and the creation and distribution of sexually explicit images of minors.
In B.C., a case of online sexual extortion, or blackmail, led to a 12-year-old Prince George boy committing suicide in 2023.
The Greater Victoria team not only works to find offenders but also provides community outreach and education to prevent online child exploitation and support victims.
The team currently has three years of funding — which started last year — with $3.5 million from Public Safety Canada’s Contribution Program to Combat Serious and Organized Crime.
Police offer these safety tips for youth:
• Don’t share personal information like your name, address or school online.
• Don’t talk about sex online or share images you wouldn’t want the world to see.
• Use privacy settings on social-media sites.
• Turn off location services, and share your location only with people you know and trust.
• Accept friend requests only from people you know.
Tips for caregivers include talking to youth about online activity, keeping devices in family areas and out of bedrooms at night, implementing age-appropriate parental controls, and discussing any new apps or websites children are using.
For more information, go to cspolice.ca/youthonlinesafety.
