In 2021, NCMEC (National Center for Missing and Exploited Children” processed more than 29.3 million reports of potential online child sexual abuse or exploitation. That is more than 80,000 a day. It is truly a pandemic that exploded during the Covid lock down as young people conducted online learning. The victims are younger and younger. Many times, the families are not aware of just how serious the situation is and that their child is in grave danger and in a situation, they are not emotionally or psychologically prepared to handle.

In this session, we will look at the many different ways individuals and sextortion rings access, seduce and blackmail our young people. We will look at specific social media, games, and apps that are used by predators. We will examine the profile of various predators who are working alone or as part of a large-scale sextortion ring. We will explore what makes victims vulnerable to exploitation and how they respond including leaving home in the middle of the night or running away with the predator. We will examine several cases where exceptionally smart and talented young males and females took their own lives shortly after being blackmailed. We will identify behavioral traits that indicate a child is in trouble and most important discuss prevention and intervention methods for parents, counselors, educators, advocates and faith leaders.

Workshop led by Opal Singleton.

Opal Singleton is the President and CEO of Million Kids and serves as the Training and Outreach Coordinator for the Riverside County Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force. She has trained more than 250,000 government and individual leaders about labor trafficking, child sex trafficking, sextortion, child pornography and social media exploitation. She often appears on television and radio talk shows across the United States.

Opal is an Instructor at USC Price Safe Communities Institute and a Co-Instructor at the USC School of Social Work for the Los Angeles Police Department LEAD program. She is an Instructor at Los Angeles Fire Leadership Training Academy and has served on the Peace Officers Standardized Training panel to develop the training curriculum on human trafficking for law enforcement for the State of California. She also sits on the Board of Directors for Rapha House International in Cambodia, Thailand and Haiti.

Opal is the author and hosts two weekly radio shows. KTIE 590 AM broadcasts “Exploited: Crimes and Technology” throughout Southern California. “Exploited: Crimes against Humanity” is a weekly global internet human exploitation training program that broadcasts through Voice America to more than 170 countries.