November 1, 2026 / Internet Predators

Financial Sextortion Reports Hit Record Highs — What Parents Need to Know

New data from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) shows financial sextortion is surging. In 2025, NCMEC received more than 50,000 reports of financially motivated sextortion — an average of 137 per day. That is up sharply from roughly 36,000 reports in 2024.

Sextortion happens when someone threatens to share intimate images unless the victim pays or sends more. The offenders are usually strangers. Many operate overseas and target teens through social media, gaming apps, and messaging platforms.

The tactics are shifting fast. NCMEC reports that offenders are moving conversations to private and encrypted apps more quickly than before. Those spaces are harder to detect and harder to connect to related cases. Some encrypted platforms send little or no reporting to NCMEC at all.

Here is the hopeful part: children and families are catching it early. When the reporter is known, 94% of public sextortion reports came from the victim or a parent — most from the kids themselves. Open conversations work.

If a child in your life is being sextorted, remember three things. First, do not pay. Cooperating rarely stops the blackmail. Second, the offender is the one at fault — never the child. Third, help is available. NCMEC’s Take It Down tool can help get explicit images of minors removed from the internet for free, and reports can be filed through the CyberTipline.

Financial sextortion is scary, but families do not have to face it alone. A calm conversation, a clear reporting plan, and a trusted adult to turn to make a real difference.

If someone is behaving inappropriately with a child online, report it to the authorities. Use our free Report a Predator tool or the Report a Pedophile browser plugin to help protect more families.