What You Need To Know About Sextortion In 2025

What You Need To Know About Sextortion In 2025

Technology continues to evolve faster than ever and the dangers it brings along grow just as quickly. One of the most urgent threats in 2025 is sextortion. Once considered a rare crime, sextortion has now become a global crisis that affects thousands of young people every year.

In this blog post, we share what every parent, teacher, tech user, and informed citizen needs to know about the current trend of sextortion, and how to guard against it.

What is Sextortion?

Sextortion is a type of online blackmail. It happens when someone tricks, pressures, or manipulates a person, often a teen or child, into sending explicit photos or videos. In some cases, the predator threatens to share the photos or videos unless the victim pays them lots of money. Once the victim succumbs to the threats, the situation quickly spirals into an endless cycle of extortion.

Sometimes, the predator is someone the victim knows, even someone they’re in a relationship with. They use private photos or videos to scare, control, or manipulate the victim. In other cases, the predators demand more explicit content, and if the victim refuses, they threaten them or make them feel like hurting themselves or ending their life is the only way out.

Why It's Worse in 2025

Sextortion is not new, but it’s getting more dangerous and more common. In 2025, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) continues to report high numbers of sextortion cases. In fact, according to NCMEC’s 2024 CyberTipline Report, they're receiving over 100 reports of financial sextortion each day. These are real children being targeted, manipulated, and deeply harmed.

The report also highlights a 1,325% increase in reports of AI-generated child sexual abuse material, showing that predators are now using AI tools to create fake explicit content. With just a few images scraped from social media, they can generate realistic-looking deepfakes to use as leverage. This terrifying tactic is new, hard to detect, and incredibly damaging.

Who are the Victims?

While anyone can be targeted, the most common victims are teenage boys between the ages of 13 and 17. Sextortionists often go after boys, counting on shame and silence to keep them from telling anyone. Since 2021, at least 36 boys in the U.S. have died by suicide after being victims of sextortion, a tragic reminder of how serious this threat really is.

And it doesn’t matter the kid’s gender or location. Kids in big cities, small towns, rich families, or low-income homes can all fall victim. Sextortion crosses every line and can affect anyone with a phone and an internet connection.

What Makes Sextortion So Dangerous?

Sextortion is terrifying because it traps victims in silence. Attackers often say things like:

“If you tell anyone, I’ll post your pictures everywhere.”

“Pay me or I’ll send this to your family and school.”

“You're never getting out of this.”

The shame, fear, and confusion can make victims feel hopeless. They’re scared their parents will be angry and disappointed. They're afraid their lives will be ruined. And sometimes, that fear turns into something worse, like depression, self-harm, or suicide.

How You Can Stay Safe

Here’s how you can protect yourself and others from falling victim to sextortionists:

1. Don’t share nudes. Even if you trust the person now, things can change and once something is online, it’s hard to take back.

2. Be careful with strangers. You don't have to accept friend requests from people you don't know. And if someone you don't know texts you, you can block or report the account.

3. If it happens, tell someone. You’re NOT in trouble. You didn’t do anything wrong to them. Telling a trusted adult, teacher, or organization like NCMEC can help stop the abuser and protect you.

4. NEVER send money to a sextortionist. Paying won’t make them stop. That usually makes things worse. Seek help immediately instead.

How The Mission Haven Can Help You

Sextortion in 2025 is more high-tech, more aggressive, and more heartbreaking than ever. But it’s not altogether a hopeless situation. The more we talk about it, the more we break the shame that keeps victims silent. At The Mission Haven, we’re committed to helping victims and survivors of all kinds of domestic minor sex trafficking (DMST) reclaim their safety and dignity through persnalized counselling.

If you or someone you know needs help or guidance, don’t hesitate to reach out to us today. We’re here to listen and support you. Remember, help is always one message away.