The Royal Canadian Mounted Police in British Columbia warned of the spread of child sexual exploitation and blackmail online.

Police departments in other provinces have issued similar warnings in recent months, with the Canadian Centre for Child Protection tracking this issue. Steven Super, director of the Canadian Centre for Child Protection, explained that there is a disturbing increase in this type of exploitation.

Super added that blackmail victims quickly fall into the trap, after continuous harassment from exploiters of their manipulated photos, which are given a shameful sexual nature, and they threaten their victims with public posting of these photos on social media.

Super also said that his organization works on presenting complaints from victims and others, having received about 200 complaints regarding child sexual exploitation each month, a growing number especially since the beginning of the pandemic.

It is worth noting that the National Child Exploitation Crime Centre, which belongs to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, received about 52,306 complaints of this type, an increase estimated at 510% compared to the past seven years.