The Canadian Centre for Child Protection says young people are being targeted by online predators and fraudsters at an alarming rate – and warn offenders are weaponizing fake nude photos and videos of their victims. “We get hundreds of these reports each month,” Jacques Marcoux, the Centre’s research and analytics director, told CTV News on Tuesday. “Every day, we get dozens of kids across the country who email us, who are in a state of distress, sometimes crisis, and they simply don’t know what to do.” The Winnipeg-based organization has been dealing with different types of sextortion cases involving youth for years. Marcoux said, typically, victims have been coerced into sharing nude or intimate content and then blackmailed for money. “A lot of kids are aware of this scam, and so they know that you don’t fall for it, you don’t send nude images,” Marcoux explained. “So, what the offenders do now is a new tactic.” The latest sextortion scheme prompted the Centre to issue an alert through its cybertip.ca website on Tuesday. The organization said offenders are using AI deepfakes, which are real images, videos, or audio recordings altered to show the victim in a sexualized manner. “The images look very compelling,” Marcoux said. “AI has progressed so much now that you can almost not tell the difference.” The cybertip.ca alert warned offenders often use photos plucked directly from social media accounts and run them through AI generators found on app stores. Houda Elmimouni, an assistant professor of computer sciences at the University of Manitoba, said the process is easier that you could imagine. “Ten years ago, you needed a film studio to do this,” Elmimouni said. “Today, it takes one photo and probably a minute or less to create that deepfake.” Elmimouni added it’s become increasingly difficult to spot a deepfake as well. “AI has learned from millions of images what faces and bodies look like,” she explained. “So, someone gives it an ordinary photo, say, a school picture of a selfie from Instagram, and the AI builds a fake new image around that face.” Marcoux said the offenders then threaten to spread the fake images unless the victim pays up. “We’re talking about 10, 11, 12-year-olds in elementary school,” Marcoux said. “That’s a really challenging context for them. So, whether its AI-generated or it’s a real nude image of that kid — the distress and the impact can be just the same.” Marcoux urges young people to speak up if they’re being victimized and contact cybertip.ca, needhelpnow.ca, and local police immediately. “The most important thing to do is to simply not engage — block the account,” Marcoux said. “Never comply with the ransom. If you do, they will keep coming back.” He also encourages parents and guardians to help youth adjust privacy settings on social media profiles, and to establish rules like only “friending” people they know in real life. “Be engaged with your kid’s online life as much as you can,” Marcoux said. “It’s a huge burden, it’s a lot of work. There’s so many apps out there, and I think my experience is that parents are maxed out. But you have to do what you can.” The Canadian Centre for Child Protection has numerous resources available for free through cybertip.ca.
