The fbi has seen a huge increase in the number of cases involving children and teens being threatened and coerced into sending explicit images online—a crime called sextortion. Approximately one in five teenagers report having direct experience with sextortion or knowing someone who has been targeted.1 by understanding its definition, risks, and how to best protect children from it, parents and caregivers can better respond if a crisis arises. Sextortion refers to the broad category of sexual exploitation in which abuse of power is the means of coercion, as well as to the category of sexual exploitation in which threatened release of sexual images or information is the means of coercion.
Sextortion occurs when a predator using a fake or hacked account engages in a sexual conversation with you online and then blackmails you, often with nude photos you exchanged or sexually. Experts agree that sextortion, a form of online coercion, is a growing concern for teens and families Sextortion is a form of sexual exploitation that happens when perpetrators threaten to share sexual images of victims (often minors) to get them to do something like send money, gift cards, or more sexual photos and videos.
The crimes typically happen on social media platforms, gaming sites and chat rooms where. Sextortion — the act of threatening to share nude or explicit images — is more common than you may think, and cases affecting young children, teens and adults have increased exponentially in the past two years.
