The Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office warning parents to be on high alert following a significant rise in online predators targeting local children through social media and gaming platforms.
Investigator Sarah Smith said the department is currently managing a heavy influx of cases involving the exploitation of minors. The sheriff’s office reported that the frequency of these incidents has reached a critical level.
“We’re getting several a week,” Smith said. “It feels like we are constantly trying to play catchup with all of these cases that just keep coming in. For every one we’ll have three more just the next week it feels.”
Smith said predators are increasingly utilizing random group chats on Facebook Messenger and Snapchat to reach hundreds of potential victims at once. Smith said the popular gaming platform Roblox has also emerged as a primary gateway for adults to contact children by posing as fellow minors.
“It’s a way for, obviously we can put on any persona that we want to online and it’s, they’ve seen it as an avenue that if parents aren’t taking the necessary steps to teach their children about strangers and danger and to teach them about online safety, these kids are getting on there thinking that they’re talking to another juvenile and it’s an adult getting what they want by just simply posing as a child,” Smith said. “Now more than ever, although we, we have access to all these great things, unfortunately, so do predators.”
The investigation process is often hindered by app features like disappearing messages. Smith said many technology companies have informed law enforcement that once a message is deleted or expires, it cannot be recovered for evidence.
“So with all of these messages that parents are seeing, that’s why we’re advising them, A, if you see something, take, immediately take a screenshot, take a screenshot of the username, anything and everything is helpful because once it’s gone it’s gone is what most of the companies are telling us,” Smith said.
Smith said parents should maintain open communication with their children about digital boundaries and the reality of online threats. Smith said if a parent suspects their child is being targeted or “sextorted” for financial gain or images, they should take immediate control of the device and notify the authorities.
“Contacting law enforcement and just getting your child’s device, going through it, making sure that you have the passcodes,” Smith said. “But just most of all, if you feel like or if you see something that you’re not comfortable with or you think that your child is being a victim of something horrendous online, just contact law enforcement and we can make sure that we try to take care of it as soon as possible.”
Smith said additional resources are available through the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which offers tools to help remove explicit images from the internet. Smith said the ultimate defense against these rising threats is active parental involvement and supervision of all digital activity.
“No ma’am, just that it’s our responsibility to make sure that our children are safe,” Smith said. “It’s our responsibility to make sure that we are keeping them as safe as possible from the people that are online.”