‘These predators are everywhere.’ Online crimes against kids soar, NC police say
Charlotte police on Wednesday urged parents to monitor their kids’ social-media activity closer than ever as tips about online crimes against children soar.
Cyber tips to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department skyrocketed from 98 in 2016 to 724 in 2022 and to more than 300 already this year, CMPD Special Victims Division Lt. Jim Ivie said at a news conference with FBI and State Bureau of Investigation agents.
“A massive increase in just a few years,” Ivie said about the rise in reports his department received from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.
The figures don’t include ongoing CMPD investigations, cases generated from 911 calls and referrals from other law enforcement agencies, Ivie said.
Statewide, nearly 19,000 cyber tips were reported to law enforcement agencies last year — up dramatically from about 2,500 in 2016, according to the SBI.
Predators constantly try to access kids’ computer, cell phone or social media accounts to entice them to send explicit images, Ivie said.
“Online predators, child pornography suspects are not always shadowy figures overseas,” he said. “They are people that live in our community, people that live across this state and across this nation.”
Spike in ‘financial sextortion,’ too
Between 2021 and 2022, the FBI saw an alarming 600% spike in “financial sextortion” crimes against N.C. children, said Beth Boggess, FBI assistant special agent in charge in North Carolina.
“I can say without a doubt these predators are everywhere your children are online,” Boggess said.
Parents are “the first line of defense” against such criminals, she said.
Never chat online with someone you don’t know in person, Ivie said he urges his children.
Always monitor your children’s online presence, keep parental controls on their electronic devices and talk with them about what’s appropriate online, police urged.
To report abuse in Charlotte, call 911 or 311 and make a report, police said. Tips also can be reported to the North Carolina Center for Missing & Exploited Children at 800-843-5678 and cybertipline.org. To report images you believe are being circulated online, visit Takeitdown.ncmec.org.
