Please join us on Friday May 29, 2026 at 12PM for a presentation followed by SWRC online chapter meeting.
This presentation will provide 2 CEs
CEs are FREE to SWRC Chapter Members & $20 for Non-SWRC Members
Zoom link will be sent in the confirmation email once registration is completed.
Bio: Opal Singleton Hendershot is the President and CEO of Million Kids, a 501(c)3 organization dedicated to keeping kids safe from predators. Opal has completed tens of thousands of hours of research over the past fifteen years and dealt with real cases making her an expert on human trafficking crimes and the online exploitation of minors.
With her expertise, Opal has educated and trained hundreds of thousands of government and individual leaders as the keynote speaker and workshop presenter on labor trafficking, adult and child sex trafficking, foreign national trafficking, gang trafficking, advanced technologies used in sex crimes, sextortion and social media exploitation, global financial sextortion, crypto currency and money laundering, the Dark Net and bulletproof hosting, and CSAM (child sexual abuse materials). She often appears on television and radio talk shows across the United States.
Opal is the author of three books. Seduced: The Grooming of America’s Teenagers. The second book, Societal Shift: A World Without Borders A Home Without Walls. In January of 2026, she released her new book Digital Warfare: Our Kids on the Front Line. This book explores the crime of sextortion and the technology transformation that is driving that crime including artificial intelligence, mass audience live streaming, global digital currency, geo location software, and encryption.
Million Kids serves as the Advisor to the Training and Outreach Coordinator for the Riverside County Anti Human Trafficking Task Force (RCAHT) and works with the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department.
Opal is an Instructor at USC Price Safe Communities Institute. Opal has completed the Robert Presley Institute of Criminal Investigation Instructor Course and served on the Peace Officers Standardized Training panel to develop the training curriculum on human trafficking for law enforcement in California.
Opal is the Co-Executive Producer of a global documentary “Sextortion: The Hidden Pandemic” which premiered at the Pentagon. The film has been edited for school classrooms and has been distributed across the U.S. through the Netsmartz program.
Opal hosts a weekly podcast titled P3 Kids - Protect and Prevent to educate the public about the latest trends in human trafficking , CSAM and online exploitation.
Simply stated: Opal cares deeply about the safety of young people and their families.
For more information:
https://millionkids.org https://insideralerts.org
https://Instagram.com/_millionkids_
https://Facebook.com/iemillionkids
https://www.youtube.com/c/MillionKids/videos
HOW ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES ARE USED BY PREDATORS IN GROOMING FOR TRAFFICKING AND ONLINE EXPLOITATION
We live at one of the fastest changing times in all of history. Now the entire world is connected by 5G High Speed Internet and at the same time we have new technologies like artificial intelligence, mass audience live streaming, geo location software, and global money transfer. Online exploitation of minors may be the fastest growing crime in the world with more than 20 million reports in the U.S in 2024. Financial sextortion of young, high achieving, U.S. males has resulted in more than 40 young people taking their own lives. Most of their families had never heard of how global criminals can now access our kids and blackmail them. Pimps, gangs and organized criminal groups use dating sites, video game chat rooms, and encrypted messaging to groom young people into a life of crime. Innocent interactions with strangers are used to build trust and lure young people into activities that will change their lives forever. Artificial Intelligence is used to create deepfakes in cases of sextortion and CSAM (child sexual abuse materials). Teenagers are the first users of chatbots and Character AI with little understanding of the dangers.
During this two hour presentation we will explore many indicators and behavioral changes that might indicate a young person, adults and seniors are being groomed, recruited, and/or exploited through online relationships. We will discuss effective prevention scenarios as well as identifying specific intervention actions that can be used to keep a person from being victimized. We will discuss the psychological impact on the victims and challenges that will follow once a person has become a victim of exploitation,
GOALS AND OBJECTIVES:
1.) Identify specific technological advances and how they are used by criminals to access, groom, recruit and exploit victims. These will include:
a) Global Internet connection
b) Mass Audience Live Streaming
c) Geo location software
d) Global Money Transfer and Cryptocurrency
e) Dating sites, direct messaging and encrypted messaging used by gangs
f) Scam Farms used to exploit teens and seniors
g) The Dark Net, Bulletproof Hosting, Peer to Peer networks.
2.) Understand the crime of Sextortion, including Generative AI - Deepfakes, Financial Sextortion from overseas criminals and scam farms, and sextortion used to gain access to images used for CSAM . The goal includes how criminals operate as well as specific
types of prevention and intervention possibilities for parents, counselors, educators and first responders
3.) Understand CSAM (child sexual abuse materials - formerly called Child Pornography) from multiple perspectives. We will discuss the technologies related to this crime including peer to peer networks, The Dark Net, Bulletproof Hosting, Generative AI, global CSAM rings and how they operate. and how US and International law enforcement organizations investigate and prosecute these crimes. We will also look at how technology is changing pedophilia behavior, specific indicators of CSAM activity and how to report,
4.) Look at how technology and California law has changed the crime of sex trafficking of minors. This will include how criminal groups have changed from individual pimps exploiting young girls to the involvement of gangs and cartels and the challenges that presents for prevention and intervention. A look at specific physical and psychological indicators that a victim may be being controlled or exploited through organized criminal groups
5.) Identify specific indicators when a victim might be in a significant crisis related to online exploitation and discuss concrete methods for intervention, especially crimes of financial sextortion and radicalized groups impacting or altering a young person’s behavior.
Provision of Continuing Education Units:
This course meets the qualifications for two (2) hours of continuing education credit for LMFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs, and/or LEPs as required by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences. Southwest Riverside County Chapter of CAMFT is approved by the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists to sponsor continuing education for LMFTs, LCSWs, LPCCs, and/or LEPs. Southwest Riverside County Chapter of CAMFT maintains responsibility for this program/course and its content. If you have any questions or concerns about the program, please email the chapter at southwestriversidecountycamft@gmail.com.
General Information:
While SWRC-CAMFT strives to assure fair treatment for all participants, there will be occasional issues which come to the attention of the workshop staff which will require action on the part of the SWRC-Board. Please put all grievances in writing about a speaker, the content presented by the speaker, the style of presentation, workshop offering, its content, level of presentation, or the facilities in which the workshop was offered. SWRC-CAMFT will keep all grievances confidential and work to remedy the situation as quickly as possible.
