Online and in-person, sexual exploitation, sex trafficking and sextortion are impacting youth across Canada.

Sexual exploitation, sex trafficking and sextortion are not always easy to spot. Traffickers will become your close friends, romantic partners, and close community members before using manipulative tactics to alienate you from your loved ones and take advantage of you.

Use the information below to learn more about how sexual exploitation and sex trafficking happen and how to prevent them.

  • Sexual exploitation is the actual or attempted abuse of someone in a position of vulnerability by using power or trust to manipulate that person for sexual purposes, monetary gain and/or influence. Sexual exploitation can happen online or in-person.

  • Sexual exploitation doesn't always happen in the same way, but there are some patterns that we can learn how to recognize.

    Traffickers are known for being skilled at building connections with their victims. They will often become your friends, romantic partners, or close acquaintances before gradually manipulating you into sex trafficking.

    They will love bomb you, make you feel 'special' and 'unique', and after gaining your trust and building a strong emotional connection, they will ask you to engage in sexual acts either with them or others, for monetary gain or other types of benefits.

    They'll present it as a 'life or death' matter or even show the situation as beneficial to you.

  • Sexual exploitation can happen in online spaces too. Traffickers will gain your trust through social media, gaming or dating platforms. They can either show their true selves or create absolutely fictional characters to lure you and build a connection with you.

    After gaining your trust, they will ask for private pictures of yourself which they will eventually use to extort you (this is known as sextortion) by threatening you to make the pictures public if you don't send them a specific amount of money or more explicit pictures of you.

    Often traffickers will not only extort their victims, they will also sell their pictures as child pornography on the internet.

  • Anyone can be at risk of being targeted for sex trafficking, regardless of age, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, family history, housing situation, race, ancestry, religion, or geographic location.

    Nonetheless, being young and female is the number one risk factor to being targeted by sex traffickers. Risk augments when individuals belong to vulnerable groups including Indigenous, Black, 2SLGBTQ+, racialized, immigrants, disabled, among others.

    When speaking about sextortion in particular, boys and male teenagers are at greater risk of being targeted.

  • Preventing sexual exploitation and sex trafficking is about being aware of risk and practicing safety. Always be mindful of how sexual exploitation happens and be alert to spot red flags in your close relationships and online interactions.

  • People can show different signs of being exploited. These could include:

    > Unexplained gifts or money

    > New romantic relationships or friendships that 'move too quickly', show signs of co-dependency and/or have controlling and manipulative patterns.

    > Being defensive and aggressive to exhibiting feelings of fear, anxiety, depression, tension, and submissiveness;

    > Sudden changes in behaviour or appearance

    > Avoiding friends and family

    > Frequent absences from school or work

    > Having sexualized content on their online profiles

    > Having a new tattoo (especially if it is a boyfriend’s / friend's name or symbol)

  • Realizing that you or someone you know have been victims of sexual exploitation, sex trafficking and/or sextortion is not easy. There might be feelings of shame, vulnerability or self-blaming.

    The number one thing to remember along the way is that there is help.

    Be kind and understanding, do not blame yourself or the victim for what is going on, and look for a trusted adult or professional service to seek support. Sexual exploitation, sex trafficking and sextortion are serious crimes and there are professional services ready to support you.

Report sexual exploitation, sex trafficking and sextortion.

Anyone can become a victim of sexual exploitation, sex trafficking and sextortion. Victims deserve empathy, respect and dignity.

There are services across Canada that specialize in helping victims and survivors of sexual exploitation, sex trafficking and sextortion. If you or someone you know is being trafficked, reach out for help.

Canadian Human Trafficking Hotline. For assistance, call 1-833-900-1010 or use the chat function on their website. If you believe you may have information about a potential trafficking situation, you can also submit an anonymous tip here.

Cybertip.ca. Click here to report online sexual exploitation, including sextortion.