Child Sexual Extortion
The National Crime Agency (NCA) has issued an alert to hundreds of thousands of education professionals following a considerable increase in global cases of financially motivated sexual extortion – a type of online blackmail widely known as ‘sextortion’. The NCA emphasises that this is a form of child sexual abuse.
There has been an increase in reporting of children and young people, particularly teenage males, being forced into paying money or meeting another financial demand after an adult offender has threatened to release nudes or semi-nudes of them. This is financially motivated sexual extortion, sometimes referred to as ‘sextortion’, and is a form of child sexual abuse.
The National Crime Agency has issued an alert to education settings that provides advice on how to:
- recognise the signs of financially motivated sexual extortion
- raise awareness and support children to seek help
- support victims
What you need to do
- Develop your understanding of financially motivated sexual extortion using this alert and read the recently updated ‘Sharing nudes and semi-nudes’ guidance published by the UK Council for Internet Safety
- Refer concerns, if disclosed or discovered, to local police and/or local authority children’s services through your safeguarding procedures
- Avoid using victim-blaming language and support children and young people in getting their images removed
- Whilst the responsibility is not on the child, know how you can support children and young people to understand how they can respond safely to requests or pressure to provide nude or semi-nude images or videos
Visit the CEOP Education’s website to download the alert and a template letter for parents and carers with advice on how to talk to their child about financially motivated sexual extortion, and how to support them if they become a victim.