February 16, 2024 - Nevada County Sheriff's Office officials report that the FBI – Federal Bureau of Investigation recently issued a warning about the growing threat of financially motivated sextortion. When predators pose as someone else online to coerce victims into taking and sending sexually explicit photos and videos—and then immediately demand payment or threaten to release the photo to the victim’s family and friends—it's known as financially motivated sextortion. From October 2022 to March 2023, the FBI saw a 20% increase in reports of financially motivated sextortion incidents targeting minors. Additionally, from October 2021 to March 2023, the FBI and Homeland Security Investigations received over 13,000 reports of online financial sextortion of minors. The sextortion involved at least 12,600 victims and led to at least 20 suicides.
Anyone being exploited in a sextortion scheme should do the following:
- Understand you are not at fault and you are not alone.
- Ask for help from a trusted adult or law enforcement before sending money or more images. Cooperating with the predator rarely stops the blackmail and harassment—but law enforcement can.
- Report the predator’s account via the platform’s safety feature.
- Block the predator from contacting you.
- Report the scheme immediately to the FBI or local law enforcement.
- Save all interactions; those can help law enforcement identify and stop the predator.
- If sexually explicit images have been shared, visit the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children's Take it Down tool or Is Your Content Out There? for potential removal.
Additional info / resources:
fbi.gov/.../the-financially-motivated...
fbi.gov/.../financially-motivated-sextortion…
missingkids.org/IsYourExplicitContentOutThere
Source: Nevada County Sheriff's Office
