Financially Motivated Sexual Extortion (Sextortion)

Are you Under 18, or seeking advice on behalf of someone who is? Please refer to our CEOP Website for relevant advice.

[Children] [Parents] [Professionals]

Globally, there has been an increase in reporting of young people and adults being forced into paying money or meeting another financial demand (such as purchasing a pre-paid gift card) after an offender has threatened to release sexual/indecent images of them. This is called ‘Financially Motivated Sexual Extortion’, a type of online blackmail often referred to as ‘sextortion’.

Victims of any age are potential targets, however teenage males aged 14-17 and male adults aged 18-30 are particularly at risk.

This crime is usually carried out by organised criminal gangs, often based overseas, who are typically motivated by financial gain.

What it looks like?

You may be:

• contacted by an online account you don’t know, or a hacked account of someone you do know where the communication feels unfamiliar
• quickly engaged in sexually explicit communications, which may include the offender sharing an image first
• moved from a chat on social media, an online platform or game to a private platform such as an end-to-end encrypted messaging app.
• manipulated or pressured into taking nude or semi-nude photos or videos
• told you have been hacked and the offender has access to your images, personal information and contacts (whether this is true or not)
• blackmailed into sending money or meeting another financial demand (such as purchasing a pre-paid gift card) after sharing an image, or the offender sharing hacked or digitally manipulated/AI-generated images of you to make the threat of sharing them wider

Ways to protect yourself and your family

• Review your privacy settings and make sure you have the highest level of privacy on your accounts so that people you don’t know can’t contact you or see your friends/followers.
• Be aware of the warning signs of an online blackmail attempt. If you are contacted by someone you don’t know or an account you do not and the conversation seems out of character (for example, it quickly becomes sexually explicit), end it and block them. Take a look at NCSC’s advice on spotting and reporting fake accounts.
• If you are a parent, have frequent, open and non-judgemental conversations with your child about relationships, sex and being online to build trust. Make them aware of the reporting routes available so that you can support them if something happens to them online. Find out more about how to do this on the CEOP Education website.

What to do if you have been a victim

If this has happened to you, you may be feeling distressed or blame yourself. Remember you have been tricked or deceived, it is not your fault and the most important thing you can do is get help.

Pause

• Stop all communication with the offender immediately and block them on all platforms.
• You may be tempted to pay, but there is no guarantee that this will stop the threats. The offender’s motive is to get money, once you have shown you can pay, they will likely ask for more and the blackmail may continue. If you have paid, don’t panic but don’t pay anything more.
• Try not to delete anything that could be used as evidence such as messages, images and bank account details. Deactivate your social media account rather than delete it as it allows data to be retrieved
• If your images have been shared online, collect URLs and links if you can as you may need to share these with law enforcement or when using any of the reporting functions listed below. Do not share these links with anyone else.

Report (adults)

• Report the incident to your local police force by calling 101 or 999 if you feel you are at immediate risk of harm.
• Report it to the social media platform you’ve been contacted on. You can also use Stop NCII (Non-Consensual Intimate Image Abuse), a free tool to help detect and remove images from being shared online.

Report (under 18s)

• If you are under 18, speak to a trusted adult about what has happened to you. They will help you to report the incident to your local police force by calling 101 or 999 if you feel you are at immediate risk of harm. Or if you do not have a trusted adult, you can report to NCA’s CEOP Safety Centre www.ceop.police.uk/Safety-Centre.
• You should also be supported to:
  • Use Report Remove, a tool from Childline and the Internet Watch Foundation, to remove images that have been shared or might be shared.
  • Use Take It Down, a tool from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, to remove or stop the online sharing of images or videos.
  • Report the incident directly to the platform or app that it occurred on

For further advice, visit CEOP Education’s parents and carers or teens websites.

Get help

We understand you may find it difficult to report this type of crime to us, so it may help you to talk to someone first. Some of our partners can offer you support.

If you are in severe distress and thinking about harming yourself, call 999 immediately.

The NHS also has help and support information for anyone with suicidal thoughts. You do not have to struggle with difficult feelings alone. Let family or friends know how you are feeling. They may be able to offer support and help keep you safe.

We understand the impact that this type of crime can have. The following organisations are available for further advice and support:

For children under 18

• Childline – free, confidential support online and over the phone for young people under 19.
• Young Minds – a mental health charity for children and young people, offering advice and information.

For adults over 18

• Your local police force website.
• Revenge porn helpline – free, confidential help and support for adult victims of intimate image abuse living in the UK.
• Samaritans – free, confidential listening service for any issue, with no pressure or judgement.

More help

• Papyrus – advice and support for young people experiencing suicidal thoughts. Their HOPELINE247 service is available to anyone under 35, 24/7 every day of the year – 0800 068 4141.
• National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) – for advice on protecting your data online and help if you’ve been a victim of a phishing or hacking incident
• Report Fraud – report fraud and cyber crime at any time online or call 0300 123 2040.