Expert warns parents on ‘catfishing’ children trend

Aysel Alp – ISTANBUL

An IT law expert has revealed a disturbing trend where criminal gangs blackmail children using explicit content, leveraging their admiration for celebrities as a trap.

Recently, soaring numbers of children and young people are “catfished” through fake accounts while trying to meet a movie artist or a football player on social media platforms such as Instagram and TikTok.

Kürşat Ergün, head of the Informatics Law Association, stated that there are dozens of cases involving child abuse through fake celebrity accounts, predominantly in the 14-15 age group.

Emphasizing that children are deceived by fake accounts opened on behalf of a famous person, Ergün said that these people initially focus on gaining the trust of the children they are chatting with, introducing themselves as teenagers as well.

“During these conversations, private information about their families and the children are obtained. Then by phone calls or video calls, children are asked to provide sexually explicit or pornographic content.”

Noting that some of these video calls are also recorded by the criminals, the expert remarked that the children are asked to meet and those who do not accept the offer are blackmailed through their private images and “threatened that their photos and videos will be sent to their families and close friends.”

“If the family finds out, this time the blackmail continues through them. The child's photo is uploaded to a website and the family is asked for a significant amount of money to get it removed. These children can be driven to suicide by shame, anxiety and fear. We estimate that there are hundreds of cases that have not been reported to the courts or the police due to this fear,” the expert warned, urging parents to monitor their children’s social media use and immediately seek support from the authorities.