(Pilot Mound) A Manitoba family is warning of a global ‘sextortion’ operation targeting teens that has driven their boy to suicide.
Posted at 10:50 a.m.
Derek and Jill Lints describe their 17-year-old son Daniel as kind, responsible and spiritual.
He was blackmailed on Snapchat in February. Three hours later, he took his own life.
According to the Canadian Center for Child Protection, reports of “sextortion” are on the rise across the country.
He explains that “sextortion is a form of blackmail” which occurs when “an internet user threatens to post an intimate photo or video of a child or teenager if the latter refuses to send him money or ‘other intimate images’.
The Canadian Center says that young adolescents are particularly vulnerable because of their stage of development and the feelings of embarrassment they may feel.
The RCMP has already recommended that victims of this type of blackmail stop contacting the fraudster and notify an adult, a help line or the police.