![]() “We reached out to NCMEC early because we knew the nonprofit organization was on the front lines of this fight,” said Stephen, who along with Maria interviewed Lindsey Olson, executive director of our Exploited Children Division, about the scope of the problem. As the trial unfolds in the film, victims’ initials were used to protect their identities, and an artist was hired to do courtroom sketches from trial transcripts which were then animated, she said. Maria, who also directed the documentary, said entire buildings had to be shut down over Covid concerns for interviews with those who investigated and prosecuted the Navy pilot. But making a documentary in the throes of a pandemic compounded those challenges, yet the producers felt an urgency to tell this story. Visually showing child sexual exploitation in any medium is difficult considering the age of victims and the sexual nature of the crime. “It was very personal for us,” said Stephen, who knew many parents, like them, did not realize this was happening to both girls and boys on the internet, often in their own homes. As the parents of two daughters, 10 and 13, they realized their children were in the highest-risk age group being targeted by child predators on the internet. The more the couple read about this growing threat on the internet, they knew they had to help get the word out. Once they gain their trust, they then threaten to not only share their sexually explicit images online if they don’t comply with their demands but to harm their families if they dare tell anyone. They learned how child predators, often posing as teenagers, have become expert at grooming children they meet online, making them feel special and loved. The producers, Maria and Stephen Peek, first heard about sextortion in 2019 and the devastating impact it was having on children. They secretly coerce their underage victims to produce sexual images, to have sex with them or give them money.” They don’t need a key to get in just a device connected to the internet. ![]() “Sexual predators have found a way to extort children in the privacy of their homes. “Everyone should watch this documentary,” said John Shehan, vice president of NCMEC’s Exploited Children Division. The film was also done in partnership with NCMEC and will be available for wide distribution later this year. The documentary, which was produced by the award-winning Auroris Media production company, highlights one of the largest international sextortion cases investigated by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Justice Department. The producers have dedicated their documentary in memory of Amanda Todd and to all victims of sextortion. The film will have its world premiere at the prestigious Santa Barbara Film Festival on March 3. Now a powerful new documentary, “Sextortion: The Hidden Pandemic,” shows how child predators target their victims on the internet and tells the story of a Navy Top Gun pilot who groomed hundreds of children all over the world and extorted them for explicit sexual images. Today, nearly 10 years later, reports of sextortion to our CyberTipline have skyrocketed here at the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. Her video instantly went viral, and millions of people learned about sextortion which was, at the time, a relatively new kind of online enticement. She ended her life at her home in Canada on Oct. He was true to his word.Ī month after sharing her story on YouTube, Amanda’s pain became unbearable. He later threatened her to “put on a show for me” or he’d share the topless image online with everyone she knows. Her new online friend had told her she was “stunning, beautiful, perfect” and convinced her to flash her breasts on her webcam. Instead, the 15-year-old holds up flashcards, and the words she’s written on them become more painful to read as she works her way through the stack in her hands.Ī chance meeting in a chat room on the internet would send Amanda, then a 13-year-old, spiraling to the depths of depression over the next two years and make her the target of cruel cyberbullies. Amanda Todd tells her harrowing, “never-ending” story about being a victim of sextortion to warn other children – without ever saying a word.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |