Boys aged 14-17 principal goal of ‘unimaginably cruel’ sextortion | EUROtoday

Boys are being focused by an “unimaginably cruel” wave of on-line sexual extortion, the National Crime Agency (NCA) has warned.

While ladies are sometimes nearly all of victims in instances of kid sexual exploitation and abuse, a disturbing 90 per cent of “sextortion” victims are male, aged between 14 and 17.

The alarming development is pushed by organised crime teams working abroad, the NCA stories. These criminals manipulate and blackmail younger boys into giving them cash, threatening to launch intimate pictures on-line in the event that they refuse. The NCA has recognized Nigeria, Ivory Coast, and the Philippines as the first areas of those perpetrators.

Growing considerations concerning the devastating affect of sextortion, together with victims pushed to suicide, have prompted the NCA to launch a serious marketing campaign to boost consciousness amongst younger boys concerning the risks they face on-line.

The marketing campaign, launched on Thursday, will goal boys aged 15 to 17 on social media platforms together with Instagram, Reddit and Snapchat.

It goals to teach youngsters on how sextortion works, the ways offenders use, and the right way to report incidents.

What is sextortion?

open picture in gallery

Sextortion sometimes includes offenders coercing victims into sending nude or semi-nude photographs — or manipulating current pictures — earlier than threatening to show them until they pay cash.

In some instances, blackmail has occurred inside an hour of first contact.

NCA director of menace management Alex Murray stated the crime has pushed some victims to take their very own lives.

He stated: “Sextortion is unimaginably cruel and can have devastating consequences for victims.

“This campaign will help empower young boys, giving them the knowledge to spot the dangers posed by this crime type and how to report it.

“Sadly, teenagers in the UK and around the world have taken their own lives because of sextortion, which has been a major factor behind launching this campaign.”

The NCA’s CEOP Safety Centre acquired 380 sextortion stories in 2024 alone.

Meanwhile, UK police recorded a median of 117 month-to-month stories involving under-18s within the first 5 months of the identical yr.

In the United States, the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children acquired greater than 28,000 sextortion stories globally in 2024 – up from 26,718 the earlier yr.

Research commissioned by the NCA forward of the marketing campaign discovered that 74% of boys surveyed didn’t absolutely perceive sextortion, whereas an analogous proportion did not recognise requests for nude pictures as a warning signal.

Nearly three-quarters didn’t know the right way to report the crime, and solely 12% believed they could possibly be in danger.

Alongside the marketing campaign, the NCA has issued steering for folks and carers on the right way to recognise sextortion dangers, speak to their kids concerning the risks, and help victims.

The marketing campaign follows an unprecedented NCA alert to academics final April, which reached an estimated two-thirds of UK instructing workers.

Teachers reported feeling higher geared up to recognise and reply to instances of sextortion in consequence.

The marketing campaign comes amid rising considerations about youngster sexual abuse, with latest figures revealing that almost 40,000 such offences had been dedicated by kids in 2023.

Analysis of information from 44 police forces in England and Wales discovered that greater than half of the 115,489 youngster sexual abuse and exploitation offences recorded final yr had been dedicated by offenders aged 10 to 17.