What is Sextortion? And How to Keep Your Child Safe

There's a new internet crime on the rise and parents need to be aware of what Sextortion is and how to start protecting their children.

How do we keep our children safe? This has been a hot topic in Rockford lately. Girls disappearing, sex trafficking, strange trucks following women and children. It's all scary to think about. As parents, it is our job to protect our children. And they may not always like our methods. But nonetheless, we are their parents, not their besties. Sextortion is the newest danger that you need to protect your kids from. What exactly is it? Here's the definition.

Sextortion is a form of sexual exploitation that employs non-physical forms of coercion to extort sexual favors from the victim. It refers to the broad category of sexual exploitation in which abuse of power is the means of coercion, as well as to the category of sexual exploitation in which threatened release of sexual images or information is the means of coercion.

Basically, what it boils down to is grown men are pretending to be teenage boys and enticing girls to send them naked pics, videos, etc. Once they have one, they threaten to post it on social media if they don't send them more. Horrible, right? So what can you do to prevent this? From recent story at wifr.com, Naperville Detective Richard Wistocki, “The common denominator of every sextortion case is that the parents allow their children to have their devices in their room at night,” Watch the full video here and find out all you need to know.

So parents...it's THAT easy. Do not let your children have their phones in their rooms at night. I don't care how responsible you think they are. Wistoki goes on to say this, “Parents have to know two things. That they are responsible for their children’s technology and two, there is no such thing as privacy for children. Once they get over those two things, everything else is easy,” says Wistocki. Make this clear from day one of your child getting a phone. Make it their norm. If it's too late for that, and your child is already used to having free access to their phones, shut it down right now.

In case you didn't know, there are also apps you can get to that let you see where your kids are, what apps they’re using, and have access to all their texts, even if they’ve already been deleted. Make sure you look into this if you don't already have it. We have to protect our kids. It's OUR job.

So parents...it's THAT easy. Do not let your children have their phones in their rooms at night. I don't care how responsible you think they are. Wistoki goes on to say this, “Parents have to know two things. That they are responsible for their children’s technology and two, there is no such thing as privacy for children. Once they get over those two things, everything else is easy,” says Wistocki. Make this clear from day one of your child getting a phone. Make it their norm. If it's too late for that, and your child is already used to having free access to their phones, shut it down right now.

In case you didn't know, there are also apps you can get to that let you see where your kids are, what apps they’re using, and have access to all their texts, even if they’ve already been deleted. Make sure you look into this if you don't already have it. We have to protect our kids. It's OUR job.