MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. — In 2024 , more and more children are getting smartphones and computers younger and younger. So, Maryland Heights police are stepping in.
They hosted a meeting Wednesday night at 7 p.m. at the Maryland Heights Police Department about internet safety for families aiming to be proactive in their protection.
5 On Your Side was the only news crew in attendance as detectives discussed how offenders will reach out to children on popular online games like Minecraft, Roblox or Madden. Then, they want to take the chat to platforms like Snapchat, where there may not be a log of the conversations asking for sexual photos or a live video, Maryland Heights police said.
"(Children) will compromise themselves and all of that is being recorded on the other end," Det. Andrew Lucca with Maryland Heights Police said. "They will then upload it to a link on the internet, send the victim the link saying, 'Here is the video of you.' Then they'll send screenshots of all the person's social media and immediately say, 'You need to wire me this amount of money or I'm going to post the video on your Snapchat or Facebook.'"
Lucca emphasized one in six children between 9 and 17 years old have shared a nude image, according to a 2017 University of New Hampshire study, titled "Sextortion of Minors: Characteristics and Dynamics," which Internet Crimes Against Children detectives spoke to parents about on April 10.
Their top tips for protecting your child are:
1. Know their pass code.
2. Check their phone often for messages and app usage
3. Establish healthy digital boundaries by building trust with your child so they tell you if something may be wrong.
Especially when it comes to artificial intelligence, where people can use machine learning to create scams or advance predatory behaviors. Police said these dangerous virtual threats literally become all too real.
"People are using AI and computer software to create their own child pornography," Lucca said. "Sometimes they'll take the face of a child they know, it can be a family member or a friend's daughter, they use that to place it on top of regular pornography. It's still illegal, we still arrest them."
Lucca said that's still categorized as possession of child pornography, though the law hasn't quite caught up with this AI crime.
About 10 years ago, Maryland Heights Police tell us the usual victims in internet sex crimes were about 15 years old. Now, the average age is 10 and under. Plus, it's no longer primarily girls but teenage boys becoming the most common targets for money exploitation from overseas organized crime rings, Lucca said.
Maryland Height police added they are already planning more internet safety events in the future.