Online Enticement and Sextortion in an Increasingly Digital World
By Susan Kennedy and Allison Brooks, National Center for Missing & Exploited Children | November 2024
The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) is the nation’s largest and most influential child protection organization. We work with families, victims, educators, child welfare professionals, law enforcement and the public to help find missing children, prevent child abductions and provide services to deter and combat child sexual exploitation.
In recent years, the number of children affected by online exploitation has skyrocketed, specifically regarding online enticement and sextortion. Online enticement is a form of exploitation involving an adult who communicates with someone believed to be a child with the intent to commit a sexual offense or abduction. Our CyberTipline, where members of the public can report any suspected online exploitation of a child, received more than 186,000 reports regarding online enticement in 2023 alone – a more than 300 percent increase from 2021.
Online enticement is a broad category that includes sextortion, a type of blackmail in which an offender coerces a child to take sexually explicit images or videos. Sextortion affects both boys and girls, although not always in the same way. The continued rise of financial sextortion disproportionately targets teenage boys. In many cases, an offender will target a boy by pretending to be a girl who shares his similar interests, seems to really like him and wants to trade pictures. Once the targeted boy sends the images or videos the “girl” wants, the offender will typically demand money or threaten to share the explicit material. Unlike other types of online enticement, where the offender may groom the victim over a period of time, financial sextortion can happen hours – sometimes even minutes – after the offender first makes contact.
The CyberTipline has also received an alarming increase in reports that involve generative AI (GAI). This quickly growing trend is deeply concerning because offenders can use new artificial intelligence technology to create computer-generated images of children performing graphic sex acts and even make deepfake images or videos by superimposing a real child’s face onto a body to generate child sexual abuse material (CSAM). In 2023, the CyberTipline received more than 4,700 reports of CSAM that involved GAI technology, but we suspect that much more content has been created that hasn’t been reported to us.
We know that students turn to school counselors for many reasons – preparing for college, trouble at home or disagreements among friends might be just the tip of the iceberg. However, online enticement grows, we know that we need to be prepared to help children navigate difficult situations online, offer opportunities for children to communicate with us and reassure them that it is never their fault.
NCMEC offers an assortment of resources that are applicable to all facets of online enticement. Our CyberTipline is an essential resource for children and their families to report CSAM and other forms child sexual exploitation. Take It Down, our groundbreaking platform, helps users from all over the world remove or stop the online spread of nude, partially nude or sexually explicit photos or videos taken of them before they turned 18. Both of these resources also link to emotional support services for victims and their families who may need additional assistance.
We also have other resources that may be more relatable to share with children who are experiencing victimization due to online enticement.
NCMEC’s library of videos that tackle real stories victims have shared with us are available on NetSmartz, our online safety education program that provides age-appropriate videos and activities to help teach children to be safer online. We recently produced a series of videos that discuss healthy relationships and sextortion, geared mainly toward high school students.
NCMEC Connect, our hub for online learning, offers trainings and webinars exploring online safety, sextortion, mental health and other topics that can help you communicate with the students who come to you for help. Our newest training, “Someone Disclosed to Me – Now What?” is available now. This 20-minute course is designed specifically for trusted adults in child-related work and guides participants on how to responsibly respond to disclosures, report to the CyberTipline and promote safer online behavior.
In April 2024, NCMEC launched No Escape Room, an interactive film based on real reports received by the CyberTipline. The film shows children and their families what the reality of online enticement and financial sextortion may look like. We encourage you, as school counselors, to go through the film and select how you would (or wouldn’t) react to the scenarios the main character faces. Throughout the film, NCMEC offers statistics and facts about sextortion that can be helpful to share with children who may come to you for help.
Online enticement is scary, but NCMEC will always be here to help you navigate these discussions with the children who come to you. Having supportive, informed counselors, educators, families and community members who are aware of the threats of online exploitation is a major component in keeping our kids safe online.
For more information about how NCMEC’s resources can help you, please visit https://www.ncmec.org/education and https://www.ncmec.org/gethelpnow/support.
Susan Kennedy is director of community engagement with NCMEC and Allison Brooks is the NCMEC content strategist.
In recent years, the number of children affected by online exploitation has skyrocketed, specifically regarding online enticement and sextortion. Online enticement is a form of exploitation involving an adult who communicates with someone believed to be a child with the intent to commit a sexual offense or abduction. Our CyberTipline, where members of the public can report any suspected online exploitation of a child, received more than 186,000 reports regarding online enticement in 2023 alone – a more than 300 percent increase from 2021.
Online enticement is a broad category that includes sextortion, a type of blackmail in which an offender coerces a child to take sexually explicit images or videos. Sextortion affects both boys and girls, although not always in the same way. The continued rise of financial sextortion disproportionately targets teenage boys. In many cases, an offender will target a boy by pretending to be a girl who shares his similar interests, seems to really like him and wants to trade pictures. Once the targeted boy sends the images or videos the “girl” wants, the offender will typically demand money or threaten to share the explicit material. Unlike other types of online enticement, where the offender may groom the victim over a period of time, financial sextortion can happen hours – sometimes even minutes – after the offender first makes contact.
The CyberTipline has also received an alarming increase in reports that involve generative AI (GAI). This quickly growing trend is deeply concerning because offenders can use new artificial intelligence technology to create computer-generated images of children performing graphic sex acts and even make deepfake images or videos by superimposing a real child’s face onto a body to generate child sexual abuse material (CSAM). In 2023, the CyberTipline received more than 4,700 reports of CSAM that involved GAI technology, but we suspect that much more content has been created that hasn’t been reported to us.
Staying Safer Online
Between completing schoolwork and using social media, kids today are online more than ever. These digital threats of online enticement and sextortion unfortunately will not go away, but as trusted adults, we can help keep kids safer with the right information and helpful resources.We know that students turn to school counselors for many reasons – preparing for college, trouble at home or disagreements among friends might be just the tip of the iceberg. However, online enticement grows, we know that we need to be prepared to help children navigate difficult situations online, offer opportunities for children to communicate with us and reassure them that it is never their fault.
NCMEC offers an assortment of resources that are applicable to all facets of online enticement. Our CyberTipline is an essential resource for children and their families to report CSAM and other forms child sexual exploitation. Take It Down, our groundbreaking platform, helps users from all over the world remove or stop the online spread of nude, partially nude or sexually explicit photos or videos taken of them before they turned 18. Both of these resources also link to emotional support services for victims and their families who may need additional assistance.
We also have other resources that may be more relatable to share with children who are experiencing victimization due to online enticement.
NCMEC’s library of videos that tackle real stories victims have shared with us are available on NetSmartz, our online safety education program that provides age-appropriate videos and activities to help teach children to be safer online. We recently produced a series of videos that discuss healthy relationships and sextortion, geared mainly toward high school students.
NCMEC Connect, our hub for online learning, offers trainings and webinars exploring online safety, sextortion, mental health and other topics that can help you communicate with the students who come to you for help. Our newest training, “Someone Disclosed to Me – Now What?” is available now. This 20-minute course is designed specifically for trusted adults in child-related work and guides participants on how to responsibly respond to disclosures, report to the CyberTipline and promote safer online behavior.
In April 2024, NCMEC launched No Escape Room, an interactive film based on real reports received by the CyberTipline. The film shows children and their families what the reality of online enticement and financial sextortion may look like. We encourage you, as school counselors, to go through the film and select how you would (or wouldn’t) react to the scenarios the main character faces. Throughout the film, NCMEC offers statistics and facts about sextortion that can be helpful to share with children who may come to you for help.
Online enticement is scary, but NCMEC will always be here to help you navigate these discussions with the children who come to you. Having supportive, informed counselors, educators, families and community members who are aware of the threats of online exploitation is a major component in keeping our kids safe online.
For more information about how NCMEC’s resources can help you, please visit https://www.ncmec.org/education and https://www.ncmec.org/gethelpnow/support.
Susan Kennedy is director of community engagement with NCMEC and Allison Brooks is the NCMEC content strategist.