State officials warn families about online child sexual exploitation as school year starts

SPOKANE, Wash. – As the new school year begins, Washington and Idaho state agencies are warning families about the many dangers their children face in the online world, including the unfortunate reality of child sexual exploitation and abuse.

Robert Hammer, special agent with Homeland Security Investigations in Seattle, said online child sexual exploitation is much more common than families think.

“I could literally close my entire office and just do child abuse cases, and we’d still have more work than we know what to do with,” Hammer said. “Just like when you go to a playground, they’re going to go into a virtual playground and try to connect with kids and then move them into a more dangerous space.”

At a time when technology is becoming increasingly important and children are increasingly using social media, the risk of them becoming targets for criminals is increasing.

“The apps are constantly changing, the kids are always following the latest trends, so they’re always changing to the latest fad and app,” Hammer said. “We’re dealing with far too many investigations and prosecutions of predators who want to take advantage of our children and unfortunately in many cases they have taken advantage of our children — both through physical abuse and virtual abuse, which can be sextortion, where these children are put in situations where they’ve fallen for a trap, where they’ve sent one image of themselves thinking it’s a friend, a boyfriend or whatever, and in reality it’s a monster on the other end.”

According to Hammer, this kind of abuse can start very easily online. It can be as simple as a 50-year-old man pretending to be a 12-year-old playing a video game. And because the children, the victims, are being blackmailed, the cycle is hard to break.

The special agent added that any child can be a target for exploitation and abuse regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, family income, etc.

“The moment you as a parent make the decision to put a phone in your child’s hands, they are a potential target for child sexual exploitation,” Hammer said. “And you as a parent need to educate yourself about the dangers and the steps you can take — simple things like settings on your child’s phone that will go a long way in limiting the ability of an unknown predator to reach and contact your children.”

And it’s not just a Washington problem. In 2023, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) received more than 36 million reports of online sexual exploitation, a 12 percent increase from 2022.

And this problem extends to Idaho. In the first half of 2024, the Idaho Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force received 2,424 reports of child exploitation.

U.S. Attorney for the District of Idaho Josh Hurwit and his team are committed to educating communities and protecting children in the Gem State.

“It’s really sad, it’s really dangerous and it’s something that can affect young children when they’re online,” Hurwit said. “Anyone who deals with young children and cares for them should be aware of these resources and these tips.”

Homeland Security Investigations is alerting families and teachers to its public awareness campaign, Know2Protect, as kids head back to school. The goal is to educate and empower children, teens, parents and other trusted adults, as well as policymakers, to prevent and combat online child sexual exploitation and abuse, to show how to report online concerns, and to provide resources for victims and survivors.

“Every bit of personal information that your child gives out is used by these predators to use it back against those children, trapping them into a trap that they can’t get out of,” Hammer said.

If you want to learn more, you can visit the Know2Protect website. And if you have information for law enforcement about potential predators and other potential threats, you can report it online at tips.FBI.gov.

If you have been a victim of an online predator by being blackmailed into sending sensitive images, let NCMEC help you remove your images. Visit missingkids.org/IsYourExplicitContentOutThere to learn how to alert companies yourself or visit missingkids.org/gethelpnow/cybertipline to report NCMEC for assistance with the process.

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