ICAC - CyberBullying and Sextortion, What Parents Need to Know

Sariah Donnahoo from the Utah ICAC will be joining Dave and Bill today on the CHWR live show, call in to get your questions answered live!

 

The Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC) is a multi-jurisdictional task force that investigates and prosecutes individuals who use the Internet to exploit children.

 

The task force is funded by a grant from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention and administered through the Utah Attorney General’s Office.

 

They call it “sextortion” – teenage boys blackmailing girls into giving them more explicit cell phone and internet photos with the threat of publicizing illicit photos already received.

 

“Yeah it is happening here in Utah a lot,” said Sariah Donnahoo, a behavioral analyst with The Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. “They really believe there is a trusting relationship and it is going to stay just between them and this is going to make their relationship more loving by exchanging these types of photos.” Donnahoo travels to various schools to advise teenagers that is not always correct and advise them of the dangers of “sexting”.

 

Donnahoo says sometimes the boy suddenly blackmails the girl into sending him more explicit photos or he will send her photo to family and friends. “You have that teenager that sending the photo all of a sudden realizing what do I have to do to keep this under wraps,” said Donnahoo.