GAMERS BEWARE: Criminals are trying to exploit young people through popular video games, and authorities are racing to stop them.

• Author: Bowles, Nellie

When Kate's 13-year-old son* started playing Minecraft and Fortuite, she didn't worry.

The video games were hardly Grand Theft Auto--banned in their home because it was too violent--and he played in a room where she could keep an eye on him.

But about six weeks later, Kate saw something appalling pop up on the screen: a video of a sexual act involving a young boy. Horrified, she scrolled through her son's account on Discord, a platform where gamers can chat while playing. The conversations were filled with graphic language and imagery of sexual acts posted by others, she says.

Kate started asking her son about some of the user names of his fellow gamers. "And he's saying, 'That's so-and-so who goes to this school.' And they all think it's a friend of somebody," she says, "but then they realize it's not a friend of anybody."

Stories like this are becoming increasingly common, as sexual predators and other bad actors have found an easy access point into the lives of young people: They are meeting them online through multiplayer video games and chat apps, making virtual connections to try to convince minors to share sexual photos or videos.

In many instances, the abusive relationships start in the games themselves. In other cases, adults posing as teenagers move conversations from gaming sites and chat rooms to platforms like Facebook Messenger, Kik, and Skype, where they can communicate more privately.

Reports of abuse are emerging with unprecedented frequency around the country. Six years ago, around 50 reports of the crimes, commonly known as "sextortion," were referred to the federally designated clearinghouse that tracks online child sexual abuse. Last year, the center received more than 1,500. And the authorities believe that the vast majority of sextortion cases are never reported.

"These virtual spaces are essentially hunting grounds," says Mary Anne Franks, a professor at the University of Miami School of Law and president of the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative, a nonprofit dedicated to combating online abuse.

Posing as Children

There are tools to detect previously identified abuse content, but scanning for new images--like those extorted in real time from young gamers--is more difficult. While a handful of products have detection systems in place, there is little incentive under the law to tackle the problem, as companies are largely not held responsible for illegal content posted on their websites.

"Our society says we're going to protect kids in the physical world," says Steven J. Grocki, who leads the child exploitation and obscenity section at the Justice Department, "but we've yet to see that in the same way on the digital side."

It makes sense that the gaming world is where many predators would go: It's where the children are. Almost every teenage boy in America--97 percent--plays video games, while about 83 percent of girls do, according to the Pew Research Center.

There are many ways for gamers to meet online. They can use built-in chat features on consoles like Xbox and services like Steam, or connect on sites like Discord and Twitch. The games have become extremely social, and developing relationships with strangers on them is very common.

"Tech has made it easier for predators to get our kids faster and more efficiently," says Ben Halpert, who runs Savvy Cyber Kids, a nonprofit focused on online safety. He adds that it makes children vulnerable by "normalizing communication with...