Sextortion: The Fast-Growing Online Scam Targeting Kids and How to Protect Them
Sextortion is one of the fastest-growing online crimes against minors.
The FBI reports that financial sextortion, where a predator tricks a child into sending explicit images, then threatens to leak them unless the victim pays, jumped 20% in a six-month stretch ending in March 2023. From October 2021 to March 2023, the FBI and Homeland Security Investigations received more than 13,000 reports involving at least 12,600 victims, mostly teenage boys. At least 20 of those children died by suicide.
How the scam works. Predators often pose as alluring peers on social media and gaming platforms like Instagram, Snapchat, and Discord. They befriend a teen, build trust, and pressure them into sharing a single compromising image. Then the tone shifts: send money, or I send this to your friends and followers. Scammers move fast, and they can escalate within hours.
The victim carries no guilt. This can happen to any child with internet access, honor-roll students, athletes, kids from every background. Victims often feel trapped, ashamed, and completely alone. That shame is the weapon these offenders rely on, and it is the reason so few children speak up.
Parents are the strongest defense. The FBI’s guidance is simple and consistent. Keep devices in open family spaces. Know which apps your child uses, and keep those accounts private. Talk early and often about the reality that any image can become public. Above all, make it clear your child can always come to you, without judgment, the moment something feels wrong. The two messages that matter most: you are not at fault, and you are not alone.
Read the full FBI warning: Sextortion: A Growing Threat Targeting Minors
If you or someone you love has faced unwanted inappropriate contact online, please report it. By speaking up, you can help stop an offender and protect other children from becoming victims.