Who is targeted
When children are targeted for money, victims are most often boys aged 14 to 17. Adults are targeted too: in 2025, most reports to the FBI came from adults.524
How it works
Flirting
A new contact, often posing as a young woman, flirts very fast.6
The exchange
They send a photo or a pre-recorded video, then ask for one back or start a video call that they record.6
The threat
Within minutes: “Pay now or I send this to your family and friends.” They show your contact list.1
More pressure
Countdowns and bigger demands. Paying rarely stops it.1
How AI makes it worse
Criminals can put your face on sexual images using ordinary photos. You can be targeted even if you never sent anything. A fake image is still abuse, and the same help works.7
What the evidence says
- Every age is targeted. Of the sextortion reports to the FBI in 2025, the largest group came from people in their 20s, and more than 6,000 came from people aged 60 or over.4
- Children are targeted every day. In 2025 the US National Center for Missing & Exploited Children received more than 50,000 reports of financial sextortion: 137 a day.8
- In the UK, reports from under-18s to Report Remove rose 66% in 2025, to 1,894.2
- In the UK, sextortion was the most common harm reported to the Revenge Porn Helpline, the service for adults, in 2024.3
Warning signs
- Someone new moves very fast to sexual talk or video.
- They push you to another app.
- Their photos look like a model’s, or slightly unreal.
Protect yourself
- Assume anyone you meet online could be recording.
- Keep accounts private. Hide your friends and followers list.
- Parents: say it early. “If it ever happens, come to me. You won’t be in trouble.”
See a demonstration
Sextortion: what to do next
Answer a few questions and get clear next steps and the right contacts.
Advice on this page follows official guidance from the sources below.
Sources
- Charity or child-protection bodySextortion: what to do
- Charity or child-protection bodyNine reports a week from UK children facing online ‘sextortion’
- Charity or child-protection bodyRevenge Porn Helpline 2024 Annual Report (sextortion the most reported harm; 90.9% takedown rate)
- Official source2025 IC3 Annual Report
- News reportFBI warns of escalating online sextortion targeting minors (FBI figures, Oct 2021 to Mar 2023)
- Charity or child-protection bodyCybertip.ca sees a 62% increase in reports of teens being sextorted online
- News reportNational tip line warning of new sextortion tactic: faces superimposed on sexual images
- Charity or child-protection bodyNCMEC Releases New Sextortion Data: 2025 (more than 50,000 reports of financially motivated sextortion, 137 a day)