In these cases, boys meet girls online, who ask them to send graphic images of themselves — but they turn out to be adults asking for money or they’ll expose the victims, the FBI says.
Once FBI agents become involved, they lead the boys and their families through a process that not only includes an investigation but also the steps of trying to ensure the images are not distributed.
“Unfortunately, because at this point we now have production of child pornography, we have to retrieve the images and the videos and send those to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children so that we can have a catalog of the images that were created and the victim can be provided victim services and restitution in the cases … where we find those images being used by other child predators,” Smith said.
The FBI says parents should talk to their kids about schemes like this, advising them to be suspicious if someone met in a game or app wants to start talking on another platform, that videos and photos are not proof of identity and that suspicious behavior should be reported to a trusted adult.
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