Online crimes see stark increase during COVID-19 pandemic, statistics suggest

New statistics show that police-reported extortion cases in Canada rose by nearly 300 per cent in the last decade, as the crime swelled online during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“These concerning increases are being facilitated by social media platforms and other electronic services providers,” said Lianna McDonald, the executive director of the Canadian Centre for Child Protection, in a news release.

“It should be a wake-up call.” Crime data released by Statistics Canada Tuesday also showed an eight per cent increase in the non-consensual distribution of intimate images from 2020 to 2021.

There were also increases in indecent or harassing communications — up four per cent — and uttering threats — rising three per cent.

The nature of these crimes has moved online, Statistics Canada said, and may have been exacerbated by increased internet activity during the pandemic. There were almost 15,500 cybercrime-related harassing and threatening behaviour violations in 2021 — up 21 per cent from 2019.

Stephen Sauer, the director of Cybertip.ca, said the issue has worsened over the last year. The Winnipeg-based child protection centre runs Cybertip, Canada’s tip line for reporting online child sexual abuse.

There was a 120 per cent increase in reports of online luring between January and June, Sauer said. The line is now seeing 300 extortion cases a month, up from 155 earlier this year.

“What this really says is there’s a significant problem here. Police are seeing an increase, we are seeing an increase,” Sauer said.

The number of people being targeted is also likely higher, Sauer said, but many don’t report it out of a sense of embarrassment or shame, especially when it’s children.

“I think there are a lot of kids out there that are trying to manage these situations on their own without an adult or without reporting to us,” he said.