Do you know what sextortion is and how children are targeted online?

Any child who has access to the internet can become a victim of sextortion.

According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, sextortion is a form of child exploitation where children are threatened or blackmailed, most often with the possibility of sharing with the public a nude or sexual image of them, by a person who demands additional sexual content, sexual activity or money from the child. This crime may happen when children share an image with someone they thought they knew or trusted. However, in many cases, they are targeted by an individual they met online who obtained a sexual image from the child through deceit, coercion or some other method.

In some cases, the blackmailers may have stolen or taken images of another person, and they are communicating through a fake account.

NetSmartz is the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children's online safety education program. It provides age-appropriate videos and activities to help teach children how to be safer online.

The goal of the program is to help children become aware of potential online risks and empower them to help prevent victimization by making safer choices online and offline.

The site provides free resources, such as lesson plans, videos and discussion guides about sexting, along with tips to help navigate these conversations with children.

The video series focuses on digital safety through age-appropriate approaches. The elementary videos are engaging cartoons, while the middle and high school content is designed as interviews and testimonies from teens.

There also is a CyberTip Report where online exploitation can be reported.