Today, it’s not unusual for a criminal case involving the use of cell phone technology to start in Gilmer County, only to be traced back to a far-off country.
Attendees at a recent Safer Internet Day workshop heard directly from law enforcement personnel about some of the ways modern technology is used to bully and extort victims, including children and teens, as well as ways that parents can help their children avoid or overcome these online traps and pitfalls. Presented by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) and Gilmer County Sheriff’s Office (GCSO), the presentation at the Ellijay Elementary School Auditorium coincided with Safer Internet Day, observed internationally on Feb. 6.
GBI agent Renea Green, originally from Gilmer County; GSCO detective Trevor Stanfield and Juni Verser, of the Appalachian Children’s Center, took turns presenting and taking questions from those who attended.
Green, Assistant Special Agent in Charge (ASAC) of the GBI Child Exploitation and Computer Crimes Unit, said the amount of “cybertips” the agency receives about illegal online activity involving children or teens has grown by a large amount over the past few years.
“The tips we receive come to us from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. They are usually generated by electronic service providers like Facebook, Snapchat, X and any of the multitude of electronic service providers out there,” said Green.
Financial sextortion, in which someone is being pressured to pay to avoid having sensitive photos posted online, is one of the most prevalent crimes now committed using anonymity provided by the internet. Often, the age group being targeted in financial sextortion cases is teenage boys, noted Green.
“Financial sextortion is one of the biggest trends we’re seeing right now. (It’s) the 2024 version of the Nigerian email scam. The majority of people doing this are coming out of Nigeria and the Ivory Coast,” she added. “Most of the people doing this are doing it to survive. They don’t have anything over there, and they see the U.S. as entitled. It’s an enterprise and a network of these individuals who get on there, and all day long they’re getting pictures and trying to reach out to random people. If a couple of them pay off, then they’ve got their day’s work done.”
It usually starts out with a stranger posing as someone else asking for something as simple, but also potentially compromising, as a selfie taken with a cellphone.
“A year or so ago, we were dealing with a lot of sextortion cases, where kids were taking inappropriate images, sending them to somebody and, all of a sudden, it became blackmailing (with the other person saying), ‘If you don’t send me more images, I’m going to post this to your friend list or share them with everyone in your school.’ But what they were trying to do was get more content,” Green said. “Now that’s changed, and we’re seeing more financial sextortion. It’s on Snapchat, Facebook and Instagram. Usually, it’s an individual posing as a really pretty female sending a message saying something like, ‘You’re really cute,’ and it goes pretty quick (until) they trade images. That’s when (the tone of the conversation) changes.”
Green said predators and scammers are using the anonymity and wide reach provided by the internet to target children as early as elementary school age.
“The biggest trends we’re seeing right now in elementary school (ages) is them wanting to get on YouTube or chatting while gaming. That’s where we get the majority of our cases,” she added. “(Instead of) having a creeper walk up to you and start asking questions like what’s your name or where do you go to school, which (many kids) will think is weird, you’ve got kids making friends online while gaming and chatting. In the kid’s mind, that person really is their friend. We lock our doors and windows at night and protect our house, but we’re allowing unfettered access (online) in a lot of situations. That’s where the strangers are.”
Cyberbullying, in which photos of someone are used against them online, is another trend that’s become more prevalent with the rise of social media apps like TikTok and Snapchat, Green noted. Unlike financial sextortion, cyberbullying often originates closer to home.
“When you get into middle school ages, we’re seeing more of the cyberbullying and even sexting. Kids are learning a lot more now than I like to think we used to learn (at that age),” Green said. “Back in the day, if you wanted to bully somebody, (you had to) tell them to their face, and there was an immediate reaction. Now, there’s such a sense of security in hiding behind the phone and being able to say whatever you want to say or being in a group chat where one person is getting bullied, and it’s easy to just say ‘ha-ha’ or share that post.”
Green said parents can approach the topic of cyberbullying by just talking to their kids about “being good humans and being kind,” while encouraging them not to just go along with the abuse.
“When we give presentations to students, (I tell them), for some people, going to school is a break. At home, they may be experiencing physical or sexual abuse, their parents are getting a divorce, financial stress, whatever it may be. If they’re getting bullied or picked on at school, then they come home, there’s no way of getting away from it,” she added.
Green and Stanfield suggested parents to maintain a good, open line of conversation with their children about the dangers of posting photos and their visibility online. Also, be aware of the apps your kids are using, even if that means using those apps yourself, they recommended.
“This is a conversation you need to be having frequently when you see these different applications,” Stanfield said. “Another big part of this is having open communication to begin with. What kids know is nude images are bad and cursing is bad. A lot of these kids, if they’re on these groups chats and they’re getting curse words from their friends, that’s already something they’re not going to talk to you about (because) they’re going to get in trouble. If you’ve got a good, open line of communication before it gets to the point that they need to say something, they might actually talk to you about it.”
Green said knowing your kids’ passcodes for apps they use and for their cellphones is something that could be beneficial for law enforcement and parents if something happens that requires police attention. But it’s often a piece of the puzzle that parents don’t have and can’t provide.
“If you’re going to allow your kids to have Snapchat or a TikTok or whatever it may be, not only do you create yours and follow it, get (your kids) to write all their passcodes down. Make sure you have access to them,” Green said.
Verser noted, along with learning more about social media apps and how they work, parents can also set an example by exercising responsibility in their own social media activity.
“We as adults, parents and caregivers have to learn how to use social media appropriately,” she added. “We grew up in a time when this wasn’t an issue, and we didn’t have social media. We have to learn how to use it appropriately, so we can teach our kids how to use it appropriately. Technology isn’t the enemy here. We live in a technological world, and our kids are going to grow up in a technological world. But we also have to be responsible with how we interact with technology in what we’re posting and what we should not be posting.”