Amélie, a young victim of sextortion, wants to warn young people of the risks they run if they give in to the demands of sextortors.
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“The story didn’t just happen with one boy, but with a group of friends at my school. They harassed me every day for months on Snapchat and Messenger. They wanted photos of my naked body.”
The teenager was 13 when she gave in.
“The first option is to say no. It does not work. The second option is to send him the damn picture. They ask for more. I was so afraid of them, they had such a hold on me, that the third option, sad to say, is to end it, to stop living.
Denunciation
After months of silence, Amélie confided in her mother. Everything stopped when she filed a complaint with the police. The youths were charged with luring in youth court, the charge laid when there is sextortion of young people under the age of 18. Some were convicted and sentenced to community service.
Last year in Quebec, 664 victims of luring filed a complaint with the police. According to data obtained by I with the Access to Information Act, half of the 188 sextorkers who were formally charged with luring in 2021 in the provinces were adolescents aged 13 to 17 like those who harassed Émilie.