
More than 110 child sextortion attempts reported each month to UK police forces
UK police forces are receiving more than 110 reports of child sextortion attempts every month, according to the National Crime Agency, as a new awareness campaign is launched about the online scourge.
The NCA said the use of artificial intelligence in sextortion attacks had also increased 'substantially' over the past three years as criminals adapted their methods.
The agency said in the first five months of 2024 – the first time it has collected such data – police forces received an average of 117 reports of sextortion from under-18s each month.
Sextortion is a form of blackmail where teenagers – typically boys, although incidents involving girls are increasing – are tricked into sending nude or semi-nude pictures of themselves to fraudsters who have made contact on social media and messaging platforms.
The criminals then demand money and threaten to share the material publicly or with people known to the victims.
The new NCA campaign, launched on Thursday, will feature on social media platforms including Instagram, Reddit and Snapchat.
'The key message to victims is they are not to blame, it is not their fault and they are not alone. Support is available and they will receive a sympathetic hearing,' said Sean Sutton, a senior manager at the NCA.
The campaign, asking the question 'Being blackmailed after sharing a nude?', also carries the slogan 'Stay calm. Don't pay' and asks victims to contact the NCA's CEOP (child exploitation and online protection) platform, which is staffed by child protection specialists.
The NCA said CEOP received 380 sextortion reports in 2024. Sutton said he hoped the campaign, which follows a drive last year to alert teachers to the sextortion threat to pupils, would reach parents and carers as well.
Last month the Internet Watch Foundation, an online safety watchdog, revealed that childrenaged 11 to 13 were being targeted by sextortion criminals for the first time. Sutton said the 15- to 17-year-old age group remained the most affected child demographic.
Sign up to Headlines UK
Get the day's headlines and highlights emailed direct to you every morning
after newsletter promotion
The NCA has also seen an increase in digitally manipulated or AI-generated sextortion attempts, when victims have not been tricked into sending an intimate image of themselves before being blackmailed.
Sutton said the NCA presumed AI-generated attempts were going to become more frequent as the technology proliferated. 'There is going to be more potential for them to perpetrate these crimes,' he said.
Sextortion gangs are usually based overseas in Nigeria, Ivory Coast and the Philippines. Sutton said the NCA remained in discussions with Nigerian authorities about tackling offenders, with extradition of sextortion criminals among the options.
'We are in the process of trying to do more work with the Nigerians and any country where there is a focus on this type of crime,' he said.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles

The National
11 hours ago
- The National
Michelle Mone makes 'millions in profits' after selling Glasgow townhouses
The Scottish Mail on Sunday reports that Baroness Mone sold a £19m London townhouse and £6.8m Lady M Yacht last year. It comes after Glasgow-born Mone and her billionaire husband Doug Barrowman had £75m worth of assets frozen by the National Crime Agency (NCA). The couple are at the centre of a fraud probe over the firm PPE Medpro, controlled by Barrowman, that was awarded £203m worth of UK Government contracts through a 'VIP lane' during the Covid-19 pandemic. READ MORE: Supreme Court's sex ruling faces legal tests – will they succeed? In November 2023, Mone finally admitted her involvement with PPE Medpro for the first time, after years of denying any links to the company. It then emerged Barrowman was reportedly paid at least £65m from PPE Medpro's profits, later transferring £29m into a trust for Mone and her three adult children. Several properties were frozen under the Proceeds of Crime Act in 2023. And now, Mone has reportedly sold her Glasgow homes. The Mail on Sunday reports that there is no suggestion any of the property sales breached any existing orders put in place by the NCA. One townhouse in Glasgow's plush Park Circus was bought by Barrowman's Knox business group for £1.7m in 2020. The couple have now reportedly sold this to a photographer for £2m last year. Another nearby townhouse was sold for £2.8m, allegedly to a Scottish musician, who was not named. It was bought in July 2020 for just over £1.4m. A spokesperson for the NCA confirmed an investigation is still ongoing into PPE Medpro. 'The NCA opened an investigation in May 2021 into suspected criminal offences committed in the procurement of PPE contracts by PPE Medpro,' they said. 'This ongoing investigation remains a priority for the agency. READ MORE: Scottish independence 'already begun as UK political culture diverges' 'Investigations must pursue all reasonable lines of enquiry. In serious economic crime investigations these lines of enquiry can be incredibly complex – from worldwide financial tracing exercises to the need to examine large volumes of digital material. 'In such cases it can take considerable time to ensure that a thorough, independent and objective investigation is conducted.' PPE Medpro is also being sued by the Department of Health and Social Care, amid claims that the gown supplied by the firm were not fit for use. We previously told how Mone accused the NCA of "smearing [her] as a criminal".

The National
a day ago
- The National
Michelle Mone makes 'millions in profits' after selling off Glasgow townhouses
The Scottish Mail on Sunday reports that Baroness Mone sold a £19m London townhouse and £6.8m Lady M Yacht last year. It comes after Glasgow-born Mone and her billionaire husband Doug Barrowman had £75m worth of assets frozen by the National Crime Agency (NCA). The couple are at the centre of a fraud probe over the firm PPE Medpro, controlled by Barrowman, that was awarded £203m worth of UK Government contracts through a 'VIP lane' during the Covid-19 pandemic. READ MORE: Supreme Court's sex ruling faces legal tests – will they succeed? In November 2023, Mone finally admitted her involvement with PPE Medpro for the first time, after years of denying any links to the company. It then emerged Barrowman was reportedly paid at least £65m from PPE Medpro's profits, later transferring £29m into a trust for Mone and her three adult children. Several properties were frozen under the Proceeds of Crime Act in 2023. And now, Mone has reportedly sold her Glasgow homes. The Mail on Sunday reports that there is no suggestion any of the property sales breached any existing orders put in place by the NCA. One townhouse in Glasgow's plush Park Circus was bought by Barrowman's Knox business group for £1.7m in 2020. The couple have now reportedly sold this to a photographer for £2m last year. Another nearby townhouse was sold for £2.8m, allegedly to a Scottish musician, who was not named. It was bought in July 2020 for just over £1.4m. A spokesperson for the NCA confirmed an investigation is still ongoing into PPE Medpro. 'The NCA opened an investigation in May 2021 into suspected criminal offences committed in the procurement of PPE contracts by PPE Medpro,' they said. 'This ongoing investigation remains a priority for the agency. READ MORE: Scottish independence 'already begun as UK political culture diverges' 'Investigations must pursue all reasonable lines of enquiry. In serious economic crime investigations these lines of enquiry can be incredibly complex – from worldwide financial tracing exercises to the need to examine large volumes of digital material. 'In such cases it can take considerable time to ensure that a thorough, independent and objective investigation is conducted.' PPE Medpro is also being sued by the Department of Health and Social Care, amid claims that the gown supplied by the firm were not fit for use. We previously told how Mone accused the NCA of "smearing [her] as a criminal".

ITV News
2 days ago
- ITV News
Nine men arrested in Bradford as part of government crackdown on illegal working trade
Over 500 arrests and 600 enforcement visits have been carried out across the North East, Yorkshire and the Humber in a crackdown on the illegal working trade in the UK. Since the 5 July last year, to 31 May, 687 visits resulted in 557 arrests, marking a 14% and 56% rise respectively compared to the year before. The action forms part of a nationwide intensification which has seen illegal working visits increase by 48% and arrests spike by 51% across the UK. In a joint operation in March with West Yorkshire Police, government officers visited the junction of Naples Street and Whetley Lane in Bradford. They were acting on intelligence that illegal workers were being collected daily by vans transporting them to work. Officers intercepted the group waiting at the hotspot to be collected for work in the morning and arrested nine men, including six Afghans, one Nigerian, one Bangladeshi and one Ethiopian. The Home Office say that in many cases, individuals travelling to the UK illegally are sold a lie by smuggling gangs that they will be able to live and work freely in the UK. However, in reality they often end up facing squalid living conditions, minimal pay and inhumane working hours, with the threat of arrest and removal if they are caught working illegally. The government are now extending Right to Work checks on those hiring gig economy and zero-hours workers in sectors like construction, food delivery, beauty salons and courier services. Minister for Border Security and Asylum, Dame Angela Eagle, said: 'Illegal working undermines our border security, damages our economy and often leads to the exploitation of vulnerable migrants. 'This activity will no longer be tolerated on our watch and these figures demonstrate this government's determination to disrupt organised immigration criminals at every level.'