‘Alarming’: Oregon’s cyber tips of online child solicitation, ‘sextortion’ soar 857% over the past four years
SALEM, Ore. (KTVZ) -- There’s an alarming trend in Oregon and every state in the country: Children are being extorted on social media, with sometimes tragic outcomes.
Investigators with the Internet Crimes Against Children task force in the Oregon Department of Justice report that from 2020 to 2024, the number of online solicitation and “sextortion”-related cyber tips they received from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children shot up a staggering 857%, the Oregon Attorney General's Office said in a news release Tuesday.
“This is a huge problem, and the biggest issue that we’re dealing with right now when it comes to kids,” said Mark Williamson, assistant chief criminal investigator with the ICAC. “Our children are being targeted, and the end results can be devastating, for them and their families.”
Oftentimes, it’s only after a tragedy when families find out that their child had become friends with someone online who had been demanding money, with the threat of releasing explicit pictures of the child. Investigators say in most cases, the children keep this a secret, embarrassed to tell their families and unsure of what to do.
Williamson further explained that in these “sextortion” cases, the child is “friended” on social media sites by someone who gains their trust.
Many times, they form a relationship beyond being friends, and that person asks the child to send them explicit photographs. Then, the person — who is almost always using a fake identity — will demand money from the child, with the threat of releasing the explicit photos to everyone on that child’s social media friends list.
“As a parent myself, these cases and the numbers we’re seeing in Oregon alone are deeply troubling,” said Attorney General Dan Rayfield. “Our investigators are dedicated to combating online threats. They are working with investigators across the country, and around world in some cases, to get justice for these kids and their families.”
Under Rayfield’s leadership when he was Speaker of the House last year, lawmakers approved additional funding for ICAC. This allowed the task force to nearly quadruple in size, and investigators were able to clear a significant backlog of these cases. Not only did the funding increase investigations statewide, but it also supported outreach efforts and training for local law enforcement and community members, including in schools.
“That is a big component of what we’re doing – trying to prevent these incidents from happening, and educating everyone, from the kids to their families to law enforcement – so they know what to look out for and who to turn to,” said Williamson.
Tuesday, February 11th is “Safer Internet Day” and ICAC’s Online Child Exploitation Prevention Initiative (OCEPI) has created a resource guide for families called “10 Best Practices for Internet Safety Programs.”
NCMEC also has valuable resources for families online, including how to get nude pictures of minors removed from the internet, or what children or families should do if they become a victim of sextortion.
“One of my biggest priorities as attorney general is keeping children and families safe,” said Rayfield. “We want them to have all the tools they need to fight back if this happens to them. These online resources are a great way to give them some control and power. And we’re sending a message to the suspects in these cases that we will find them, and there will be serious consequences.”
