Financially motivated sexual extortion, or ‘sextortion’ is a growing issue in the UK. It’s a form of blackmail that often includes people threatening to share sexual images of you with everyone in your life – unless you send money, more sexual images of yourself or sexual images of others.
The theme of this year’s Safer Internet Day is “Too good to be true? Protecting yourself and others from scams online”, so it’s a good time to tackle sexual extortion.
On Shore, our website and live chat for teenagers worried about sexual behaviour, we’ve spoken to young people who’ve received threats themselves, and others who’ve made threats. They’ve helped us understand young people’s perspectives and experiences about this crime – on both sides of the screen.
Young people need safe spaces where they can develop trusted relationships and get expert support and advice. This can reduce the motivation to commit this crime and the vulnerability of victims.
What to do if you are being threatened
- Don’t engage with the threats or share any personal information online.
- Tell a trusted adult – whether someone in your day-to-day life or a Shore advisor.
- Report it to the police.
Our Shore website has advice about what to do if you’ve shared sexual images of yourself or others or been sent sexual images.
Young people as victims of sexual extortion
While no two cases of sexual extortion are the same, we’ve seen some trends emerge from our conversations with young people who have experienced threats and coercion.
- Usually, young people send a sexual image of themselves, believing they are talking to another young person. In reality, they’re often speaking to members of organised crime groups based overseas.
- Some have been threatened using AI sexual images, even when no real sexual image of them exists. They’ve then been threatened in exchange for money, real sexual images of themselves or child sexual abuse images, gathered from elsewhere.
- Some have received baseless threats, where no real sexual image of them exists. This is a kind of phishing scam, which abusers send to hundreds of young people at a time, hoping that some will be frightened enough to send money.
- Some have been criminalised because they have been extorted to share indecent images of other children, extending the impact of this crime. Even if they display harmful sexual behaviour, young people should never be treated as mini adult offenders.
Young people from marginalised groups can be more vulnerable to sexual extortion, particularly if they are searching for connection through online communities. They are taken advantage of while looking for somewhere to open up and learn about sensitive, personal topics, such as gender and sexuality, for peer support, role models, trusted information, and connection.
Young people making threats to other young people
To prevent harmful sexual behaviour, we work with young people helping them understand what is behind their behaviour and what steps they must take to stop.
Whilst many of the people engaging in this sexual extortion are adults, often from overseas, we’ve supported under-18s who have made threats or coerced peers into sharing sexual images or money.
- They began by talking to people in online forums and on social media, seeking to build social connections.
- Often, they struggled to make connections in their day-to-day lives, feeling lonely, isolated or anxious. Building relationships face-to-face can feel daunting, but online, they can feel a sense of social intimacy with less pressure. They can feel more in control online, and even have the opportunity to engage anonymously, reducing the perceived risk of “getting it wrong”.
- Many of the young people who describe making threats to other young people tell us they did so to try to prolong an online interaction and maintain this sense of control. Wanting to continue the conversation but lacking appropriate social skills to develop healthy friendships or relationships, they resorted to threats and coercion to maintain contact.
Understanding these patterns of behaviour can help work out how to stop it. We support young people to make sense of why they have behaved in this way and how they can meet their needs in healthy ways, without causing harm to others.
Often, young people in these circumstances are struggling with low self-esteem and poor mental health. Both young people who are victims of sexual extortion and those making the threats have told us they have experienced feelings of shame, anxiety, and hopelessness afterwards. We support young people to understand these complex feelings. It is the behaviour, not the person, that is the problem. By learning how to change their behaviour, young people can feel better, and lead healthy and more fulfilled lives.
Young people need safe spaces offline
Young people tell us that they feel there is nowhere to go to speak about these issues. Shore gives them somewhere to talk about what happened, how it has affected them, and get advice and support to make positive changes for the future.
If young people have the support they need in place, healthy trusted relationships, safe spaces to explore and discuss personal topics, at home, at school, and among their friendships, both the motivation to commit this crime and the vulnerability of victims would be significantly reduced. With safer spaces for young people offline, we can build a safer internet.
If you need help
If you are under 18 and concerned about either your own or someone else’s sexual thoughts or behaviour, contact Shore for help and support.
If you are an adult concerned about your own behaviour or someone else’s, contact our anonymous Stop It Now helpline (0808 1000 900) for expert support.
Confidentially report a sexual image or video of yourself and remove it from the internet with the Childline Report Remove tool.
The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) has online guidance, support, and links for people concerned about sexual extortion.
Get involved
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