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Sexually coerced extortion, commonly known as “sextortion,” is a form of blackmail in which intimate, nude, or sexual images or videos are used to threaten or exploit an individual, often to demand additional imagery or money. In some cases, the images or videos are captured without the individual’s knowledge.
The IWF is only able to support the removal of sexual extortion content when the victim involved is a child.
IWF Internet Content Analysts receive reports from children across the globe who disclose experiences of sexual extortion. These reports may be submitted directly through the Report Remove tool, where a child confirms they have been targeted by sexually coerced extortion, or they may arise from URLs containing visible evidence of this abuse, such as chat messages displayed alongside the images.
Over the last three years our analysts have assessed 748 reports featuring sexually coerced extortion. 96% of these have come to the IWF directly from children via the Report Remove service.
The majority (83%) of the reports featured Category C imagery which are those images and videos that depict nude or partially nude sexual posing, and imagery that focuses on a child genitals or breasts.
The data in the chart shows that cases involving sexual extortion overwhelmingly involve boys, who account for 92% of reported incidents in this category over the last three years.
Children aged 14 to 17 years are most likely to feature in the sextortion reports we assess. Since 2023, 98% of the 748 reports assessed as containing child sexual abuse imagery and sexually coerced extortion have involved older teens. However, we do occasionally see children as young as 11-years-old reporting this kind of extortion and in 2025, even one report from a child in the 7-10-year-old age group.
In 2025 we took action on 397 reports of sexually coerced extortion featuring child sexual abuse imagery, representing a 127% increase compared with 2024.
Male and female reporters from around the world tell us that they are being sexually extorted, often for money. Some describe how they were manipulated into intimate online interactions which were recorded without their knowledge, before they were quickly extorted for money. Others describe the threat of having their intimate imagery distributed on social media or in group chats. Child reporters are often frightened, with some international reporters explaining that their life is in danger if their imagery is exposed online. We also stay alert to the threat posed by Com Groups, who we know extort children to produce humiliating sexual content, and self-harm material.
Criminal gangs target children online, particularly boys, coercing them into sharing intimate images and using the threat of exposure to extort money. This is particularly evident via our Report Remove service, open to UK-based children, and run in partnership with Childline.
Sexually coerced extortion is one of the fastest-growing online crimes targeting children, in some cases resulting in loss of life and devastating families.
On average, 9 children per week in the UK have contacted Report Remove this year to report being a victim of extortion. The imagery they are extorted with is often overlaid with text encouraging the exposure of the victim’s nude imagery; serious criminal accusations; and sometimes the child’s personal information. The overall effect feels terrifying.
Sadly, it is common for analysts to see this, and with each Report Remove submission, we prepare ourselves to assess such imagery. Some children also share with us screenshotted text conversations between themselves and the criminal extorting them.
In these messages, what feels alarming is how the extorter threatens the child. They employ emotional manipulation and use intimidating, aggressive language and threats that escalate rapidly after nudes are taken. Victims are told to send money or gift cards, or risk having their images distributed to family members, friends, schools, or posted publicly online. Naturally, children appear to be out of their depth very quickly, and their fear of the consequences can be harrowing to read.
When young people report through Report Remove, their images are added to secure hash lists, helping prevent further online distribution and re-victimisation. Where sexual extortion is identified, cases are escalated to our partners at Childline, ensuring children can receive immediate support and access to safeguarding services.
Not all sexually coerced extortion seems so obviously financially motivated. Some online indecent imagery of older teenage girls, and the chat logs that accompany it, appears to show no direct demand for money. Instead, we see a demand for adherence to directions and orders for producing more explicit sexual content. Some of the content girls are coerced to self-record depicts humiliating or extreme acts, which we find online described as ‘forced’ or ‘blackmail’ or ‘incest’ content. It is then often widely shared and sold online.
An online ‘Sextortion Guide’ reveals the methods bad actors use to coerce their victims to produce child sexual abuse material. Deeply disturbing to read, the guide encourages highly organised extortion that is both degrading and controlling. The aim of these bad actors appears to be gratification through manipulating and exploiting ‘their’ victims, but also some financial gain from selling the content of victims they extort. It is chilling to see plans for causing such calculated harm, and whenever a Sextortion Guide is encountered online, we quickly take action to block it, and have it removed.
Every week we witness what some girls and boys have been through online, and how seemingly determined bad actors are to control and extort them. Whenever a child reports to IWF, from anywhere in the world, we always inform them of organisations that can help and support them beyond our tasks of removing their online content and hashing of imagery. We understand how this type of criminality can leave children feeling overwhelmed and scared, and in need of both emotional and practical support from trusted sources.