An organization that monitors cases of "sextortion" targeting young people says it saw a 150-per-cent increase in the crime between December 2021 and May 2022.
The mother of one of sextortion's best-known victims says that figure "hurts (her) heart."
"That number is huge," said Carol Todd, whose daughter Amanda died by suicide at age 15 in 2012, after being sexually extorted online for years.
"It kind of hurts my heart to see a number that big."
On Friday, Coquitlam RCMP, which is responsible for Todd's hometown of Port Coquitlam, issued a warning about the sexual extortion of children, citing the statistic from CyberTip and noting that it has seen both boys and girls targeted in recent months.
"This has really been a trend that we've over the last six months,” said Cpl. Alexa Hodgins, a media relations officer with Coquitlam RCMP.
The crime often sees teens begin an online relationship with a stranger, eventually sharing intimate pictures.
"The suspects are then extorting the victim with money saying, 'If you do not send us gift cards or online money transactions we will share these images or videos with friends or family,'” he said.
Carol Todd said she also believes there is a positive associated with the increase in reports of sextortion.
"An increase like that could also mean that there are more people more young people reporting exploitation, sextortion, whatever you want to call it these days … and that's a good sign."
She believes change starts with parents.
“We as adults need to take that first step to learn more about it so that we can talk to our kids about it, our kids aren’t going to get it from osmosis,” she said. “It’s important too for parents to tell their children, 'No matter what happens, please come to me and you won’t get in trouble.'”
The rise in sextortion isn't just happening in Canada. Last month, the FBI issued a national public safety alert warning that more than 3,000 minor victims were sextorted in the United States in the past year.
"I think the number might actually be higher, because these types of crimes are underreported," says Ritesh Kotak a Cyber Security and Technology Analyst.
According to CyberTips, 77 per cent of incidents occur on Instagram or Snapchat.
"There's this misconception that what happens on Snapchat, that once it's done, it's gone. Well there's no such thing as ‘delete’ on the internet," Kotak said.
He says parents should not let children take devices in to their bedrooms alone and should check the privacy settings of each app being used, or the parental controls available.
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