Globally there has been a large increase in reports of children and young people being victims of financially motivated sexual extortion, often referred to in the media as ‘sextortion’.
This type of crime involves an adult offender (often from an organised crime group based overseas) threatening to release nude or semi-nude images and/or videos of a child or young person, unless they pay money, or meet another financial demand, such as purchasing a pre-paid gift card.
Victims of any age and gender can be targets, however a large proportion of cases have involved male victims aged 14-18.
A child or young person is never to blame if they have been a victim. Offenders will have tricked, groomed and/or manipulated them into sharing an image.
On the 29th of April, the National Crime Agency issued an alert to education settings across the UK, in response to this threat. The alert will help professionals to:
- recognise and understand financially motivated sexual extortion
- raise awareness and help seeking behaviours amongst children and young people
- give suitable messaging and support to parents and carers
- support victims of financially motivated sexual extortion
The Child Exploitation and Online Protection agency CEOP provide a wealth of advice, guidance and resources relating to child abuse awareness and prevention. These are divide into resources for Parents, Professionals and Children. To access the guidance or find out more about CEOP, click the link below.
www.thinkuknow.co.uk/professionals/guidance/fmse-alert.
