Sextortion: Edmonton students as young as 13 are targets of online blackmail, police say

Edmonton police are warning youth and parents about the prevalence of sextortion cases in the growing digital age, with some victims as young as 13 being targeted.

The warning by the Edmonton Police Service comes just a day after a Statistics Canada report detailed the rate of online child sexual exploitation jumped 347 per cent from 2014 to 2024 – despite a drop in incidents in 2024.

Edmonton police say they received 983 sextortion-related reports involving youth victims between 2018 and 2025, including 168 last year alone.

“Kids are online more than ever, and predators know it. Sextortion has moved from being a rare online scam to something our School Resource Officers (SROs) encounter regularly,” said Acting Insp. Paul Looker in a news release.

“These crimes are emotionally devastating, and they thrive in secrecy. We want youth and parents to know how to spot the warning signs and how to get help immediately.”

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Sextortion is when an offender coerces a victim into sending sexually explicit material of them, then threatens to release it publicly unless they are paid. Police say even if a victim complies, offenders will often escalate their demands.

Most victims are between 13 and 16 years old, with 15 being the most common age, according to data provided by the EPS.

Sixty-eight per cent of victims are girls, though police indicate there has been a steady increase in male youth victims.

The offenders are mostly adults (55 per cent) and male (84 per cent). Some offenders are as young as 16, Edmonton police add.

‘Teaching youth’

Authorities are urging parents and guardians to look out for warning signs, such as children becoming more secretive about their phone; withdrawing from friends; having unexplained anxiety or mood swings; or experiencing a drop in school performance.

They are encouraging parents to communicate with their children about online activities; and ask questions about their online friends.

“We teach our kids to not give out private information to strangers or to get into vehicles with people they don’t know – these lessons translate to online safety when we talk about locking down profiles, turning off location services, or the dangers of moving from an open platform to a secured app,” said Const. Stephanie Bosch from ALERT ICE.

“There is no such thing as a bad app, just the bad behavior that can occur on any app. By teaching youth about the behaviours to be on the lookout for, we help instill confidence, which will help them recognize when harm may happen.”

Police say SROs and community partners will be increasing education efforts in schools and online.

“The sooner a student can talk to a trusted adult or their School Resource Officer, the sooner we can intervene and prevent more harm from happening,” said Looker.

Sextortion cases across Canada

Online exploitation gained international attention in 2015 in the case of Port Coquitlam, B.C., teenager, Amanda Todd, who died by suicide after being blackmailed and harassed online by a man for years, starting when she was 12.

The month before the 15-year-old died, she uploaded a nine-minute video using a series of flash cards detailing the abuse she experienced by the stranger and how it had affected her life. It’s been viewed millions of times.

Dutch national Aydin Coban was extradited to Canada for trial and, in August 2022, he was convicted of charges including the extortion and harassment of Todd.

Since then, the term “sextortion” has made its way into the vernacular as more cases come to light.

Among them was Carson Cleland, a 12-year-old Prince George, B.C., boy who died by suicide in October 2023 after falling victim to the crime. In New Brunswick that same month, 16-year-old William Doiron took his own life after falling victim to a global sextortion scheme.

According to Statistics Canada, police services across the country reported 16,905 incidents of online child sexual exploitation in 2024.

–With files from The Canadian Press