FBI educates Greenville Co. parents about sextortion

GREENVILLE COUNTY, S.C. (WSPA) — The FBI met with parents and community members in Greenville County to educate them about the dangers of sextortion. The presentation was held Thursday at Furman University.

According to the FBI, sextortion is a growing problem across the country.

“Sextortion is something that does not discriminate,” Agent Erin Carlisle said. “We are seeing it in every walk of life. We’re seeing it across genders. We’re seeing it as young as eight-years-old all the way up to the elderly population.”

Carlisle explained that sextortion occurs when a sexual predator manipulates a person into sending them sexually explicit photos, threatens them and then demands they send more photos. She said many victims are children and teenagers who were contacted by predators online.

“These kids are being sextorted,” Carlisle said. “They’re seeing that they’re making a mistake, or they’re sending an image. They’re getting themselves into a situation that they just don’t see any way out.”

Another area of sextortion is financial sextortion in which a person threatens to release sexually explicit photos of a victim unless they are sent money. According to the FBI, this has resulted in an “alarming number of deaths by suicide.”

“The last thing we want to see a child do is take their life because of it,” Carlisle said.

Parents who sat in the audience Thursday told 7NEWS they were shocked to learn how easily people can become victims of these crimes.

“It hit a lot of subjects and topics that I knew nothing about,” Lunnox Barton said.

“Having had teenage children, it is very eye opening to hear the vast amount of sexploitation that goes on even here in the area where you think your kid’s safe,” Shiela Miller said.

Carlisle said the best thing parents can do is to talk to their children about the dangers of these crimes. If a person is a victim of sextortion, Carlisle said they should contact their local law enforcement agency immediately and report it to cybertipline.org.

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