DES MOINES, Iowa — Sifting through evidence is no easy task, even for the head of the Iowa chapter of Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Special Agent Nathaniel McLaren.
Even with a lot of tools, keeping up with the social media trends and apps children use is challenging.
"Trends are difficult to track and they are difficult after because the children move and they stay active but the predators stay active and they move with them," McLaren said.
McLaren says the list of apps predators use to solicit children is long, but there are a few the task force sees frequently in their cases.
"Definitely high school age, middle school age, we see a lot of activity on Snapchat," McLaren said. "We definitely see a lot more activity for elicit activity on Discord and there are other elicit sites that [people use] that do track children."
The ICAC Task Force team has seen a steady increase of tips year by year, and 2024 is projecting the same outcome, with over 4,000 tips so far and more than three months remaining until the end of the year.
"The increase is quite alarming to go from roughly 1,908 tips in 2019 to over 5,000 last year in 2023," McLaren told Local 5.
Another aspect the department has seen a lot is sextortion cases. That's when children fall victim to a predator eliciting nude photographs or video then requesting payment from the child in exchange for not publicly releasing their photos.
If your child falls victim, McLaren says your support at that moment is crucial.
"Here in Iowa where, we have had cases where children have been solicited online," McLaren said. "They have been sex-torted for monetary gain from individuals outside of the United States that have received nude photos from the children. And then the children have ultimately hurt themselves, injured themselves and then ultimately committed suicide and killed themselves because of sexual exploitation."
McLaren says if you are a parent going through this with your child, don't sweep it under the rug and get your child the help they need.
"Communicate with them, talk to them and don't blame it on them because they're not the first ones to have gone through this and unfortunately they're not the last," McLaren said.