The FBI issued a public safety alert Monday about a financial sextortion scheme targeting children and teens.
The alert says law enforcement has received 7,000 reports this year of minors, mostly boys, being coerced into sending explicit images of themselves and then being extorted for money.
“The FBI has seen a horrific increase in reports of financial sextortion schemes targeting minor boys—and the fact is that the many victims who are afraid to come forward are not even included in those numbers,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray.
At least a dozen of the victims committed suicide after being extorted, according to the FBI.
The agency says the minors are being targeted on social media sites, games sites and video chat apps.
A large percentage of the sextortion schemes originate outside of the United States, primarily in West Africa, the FBI states.
“The sexual exploitation of children is a deplorable crime. HSI (Homeland Security Investigations) special agents will continue to exhaust every resource to identify, locate, and apprehend predators to ensure they face justice,” said Steve K. Francis, HSI acting executive associate director. “Criminals who lurk in platforms on the internet are not as anonymous as they think."
Parents are urged to talk to their children about the sextortion schemes and let them know it's OK to come to speak with an adult about these sensitive situations.
“The FBI is here for victims, but we also need parents and caregivers to work with us to prevent this crime before it happens and help children come forward if it does," Wray said.
The FBI offered these tips if you think your child has been the victim of sextortion.
What if you or your child is a victim?
If young people are being exploited, they are victims of a crime and should report it. Contact your local FBI field office, call 1-800-CALL-FBI, or report it online at tips.fbi.gov.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) has outlined steps parents and young people can take if they or their child are a victim of sextortion, including:
- Remember, the predator is to blame, not your child or you.
- Get help before deciding whether to pay money or otherwise comply with the predator. Cooperating or paying rarely stops the blackmail and continued harassment.
- Report the predator’s account via the platform’s safety feature.
- Block the predator and do not delete the profile or messages because that can be helpful to law enforcement in identifying and stopping them.
- Let NCMEC help get explicit images of you off the internet.
- Visit missingkids.org/IsYourExplicitContentOutThere to learn how to notify companies yourself or visit cybertipline.org to report to us for help with the process.
- Ask for help. This can be a very complex problem and may require help from adults or law enforcement.
- If you don’t feel that you have adults in your corner, you can reach out to NCMEC for support at gethelp@ncmec.org or call NCMEC at 1-800-THE-LOST.
- Take a moment to learn how sextortion works and how to talk to your children about it. Information, resources, and conversation guides are available at fbi.gov/sextortion.
