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CRITTENDEN COUNTY, Kentucky (WPSD) -- As cases of sextortion in the country increase, a mother from Crittenden County is sharing her experiences in hopes of educating parents about sex crime.
According to the Federal Bureau of Investigations, between October 2021 and March 2023, they received more than 13,000 online reports of financial extortion. The agency also reports that 38% of teenagers and 23% of children ages 9 to 12 years old share obscene images with people they meet online.
Ashley Coulton lives in Crittenden County, and her child fell victim to sextortion in September 2023. It happened through the popular social media platform Instagram. Coulton notes that the perpetrator posed as a younger female and lured her child with sexual images and asked for the same in return.
Once received, the perpetrator then blackmailed her child for a $50 gaming gift card.
Furious and confused, Coulton spoke with the person through the app and discovered that they didn't live in the United States, but in Africa.
"At first, I didn't believe that somebody was blackmailing my child," Coulton said. "It was just mind-blowing, knowing that we live in this tiny town in Kentucky, and a man from Nigeria was literally using pictures that he received from my child, my son, by acting like a child."
Coulton did not follow through with their demands for the $50 gift card, so they sent her child's pictures to teachers, friends, and grandmother.
She notes that her child's anxiety spiked, and they felt an overwhelming sense of embarrassment., so much so that she sought professional help. Since then, Coulton has paid for therapy for her and her child.
She noted that getting educated about sexual extortion—specifically sextortion—will save someone else from falling victim. She recommends checking your kid's phone and using security apps to decrease the chances of sextortion from happening.
Sextortion can happen on a variety of platforms, not just social media. To target children, perpetrators may use gaming sites, messaging apps, and AI-generated friendship apps.
Sextortion schemes involving AI are a growing concern for parents as well. Under this scheme, offenders threaten to release explicit AI-generated images of the victim if they do not cooperate with their demands—most times money or sex.
Earlier this month, a Kentucky teen died by suicide after falling victim to a sextortion scheme involving AI. Coulton got emotional talking about it Friday with reporters and believes if the situation had been worse, her child would have had the same fate.
Kentucky Senate Bill 73, a law establishing sextortion as a felony, gives Coulton peace of mind knowing that offenders will be charged with the most serious types of crime.
Despite being educated about sextortion and gathering resources, Coulton stresses that parents and children should take it seriously and work diligently to prevent it from happening to themselves or their loved ones.
"We live in a crazy world, and you don't know the person you're talking to behind a screen, Coulton said. "You know, at 13 years old, he made a mistake, but at the end of the day, I think that he's learned a very, very, very valuable lesson."
The FBI recommends that you report the perpetrator, block them from reaching you, save all messages made between them, and call for help if you are being exploited.
