Yuma sees uptick in online child exploitation cases, advocacy center says
YUMA, AZ (AZFamily) — New numbers at Yuma’s family advocacy center, Amberly’s Place, for April and May show a 16% increase in total abuse cases.
Breaking it down, that’s 609 victims for those two months alone.
Tori Bourguignon is the executive director of Amberly’s Place.
She said part of that uptick is in online exploitation and extortion cases.
“We have predators who are either sending a random innocent text to a child and hooking them in and before you know it our kids are going from simple text conversations to an online platform like Google Meets or Microsoft Teams or Zoom,” she said.
She said that right now, kids are home from summer vacation and are getting more screen time.
She said parents must be proactive about what their kids are getting into online.
“We’ve had kids as young as 8 or 9 years old getting lured online and getting exploited,” she said.
She said kids get lured into sharing personal information.
“They’re being asked who their parents are, where their parents work, who their teachers are so then they have power to control and leverage those things against that child. They’re having them perform sexual acts on camera and recording those things.”
Bourguignon and other experts say these incidents can be prevented.
They recommend:
- Have open discussions about social media and its content
- Monitor your child’s screen time
- Set a good example and model healthy social media habits
- Be mindful of platforms with chat room or messaging capabilities
“They’re getting lured in via chat rooms on a video game. They’re on social media, Instagram, Facebook or (Snapchat). It’s OK to be very very nosy about this kind of thing,” she said.
Tori said right now, they are being inundated with cases at the center.
They are seeing a rise in adult sex assault cases and domestic violence.
“In addition to the increase in cases, we’re also seeing an increase in the level of violence, an uptick in strangulation cases which are considered aggravated assaults. Just a huge increase in the severity of these cases.”
Amberly’s Place has a 24/7 response team that can be reached at 24-hour helpline 928-373-0849.
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