{"id":75096,"date":"2024-06-07T09:30:28","date_gmt":"2024-06-07T08:30:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.highspeedtraining.co.uk\/hub\/?p=75096"},"modified":"2025-02-12T15:58:08","modified_gmt":"2025-02-12T15:58:08","slug":"what-is-sextortion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.highspeedtraining.co.uk\/hub\/what-is-sextortion\/","title":{"rendered":"What You Need to Know About Sextortion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Over recent years, cases of sextortion have been on the rise, particularly amongst children and young adults. For this reason, it\u2019s vital that adults with safeguarding responsibilities have an awareness of the issue and the impact it can have. In this article, we\u2019ll define exactly what sextortion refers to, the signs that you should look out for and how to deal with cases of sextortion as an educational professional or parent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What is Sextortion?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The term \u2018sextortion\u2019 is a combination of the words \u2018sex\u2019 and \u2018extortion\u2019 and refers to a type of financially-motivated online blackmail. It\u2019s also referred to as \u2018revenge porn\u2019 and \u2018webcam blackmail\u2019 and commonly involves the non-consensual sharing of \u2018nudes\u2019 or \u2018semi-nude\u2019 photos and videos in exchange for money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyone can be a victim of sextortion but those most at risk are often young people aged 15 to 17 <\/strong>and young adults under the age of 30. Similarly, anyone can be a perpetrator of sextortion: whilst sextortion is commonly perpetrated by criminal gangs – and therefore by a stranger to the child or young person – it can also be carried out by someone the victim knows.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Amongst children and young people, sextortion occurs when criminals threaten to share intimate images, videos or information about the child or young person, unless they take a specific action. This action usually involves the child or young person paying money to the criminals to prevent them from sharing the sexual content, but it can also involve forcing the child or young person to do something else they don\u2019t want to do, such as sending more intimate images to the perpetrator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sextortion is very distressing, upsetting, embarrassing and stressful for the child or young person experiencing it, and the perpetrators usually prey on these feelings, knowing they can get more out of the child or young person because they\u2019ll be too ashamed to report what\u2019s happening to them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As someone with safeguarding responsibilities, whether you\u2019re a parent, carer, teacher or another educational professional, it\u2019s important to recognise how a victim of sextortion might be feeling and understand why they may not be willing to speak out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is Sextortion a Crime?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

In the UK, it\u2019s a criminal offence to take, make, circulate and possess explicit images of children under the age of 18, including \u2018pseudo images\u2019 of children (such as photos created using AI). Therefore, criminals who possess and share intimate images in sextortion cases are committing a crime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sextortion is a type of child sexual abuse<\/a> and child sexual exploitation<\/a> and perpetrators can be prosecuted under both the Protection of Children Act 1978 and the Criminal Justice Act 1988. Because of this, Europol suggests that the term \u2018sextortion\u2019 doesn\u2019t adequately define the type of abuse experienced, and recommends it\u2019s instead referred to as  ‘online sexual coercion and extortion of children.’<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amongst young adults (those over the age of 18), sextortion is a crime under the revenge porn legislation contained in the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015. Under this Act, it\u2019s a criminal offence to share intimate images or videos of someone, either on or offline, without their consent.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Signs of Sextortion<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s important to understand that children and young people are very likely to keep information about sextortion a secret, because they feel afraid, ashamed and embarrassed by what is happening to them. Even if you\u2019re the child\u2019s parent or favourite teacher, they\u2019re unlikely to disclose what has happened. This is why it\u2019s so important to have an awareness of the signs of sextortion to look out for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sextortion commonly begins online, as this is somewhere that the perpetrator can target a child or young person without anyone else knowing. They may use a fake identity and befriend the child or young person, sometimes convincing them that they\u2019re in a relationship, before coercing the child or young person into chatting in a sexual way or sharing intimate images.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The child or young person may truly believe that they are talking to someone their own age and to someone who is genuinely interested in them, then share intimate images or videos because they trust the person. Alternatively, they may share images because they\u2019re being threatened or promised something in return by the person they\u2019re talking to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For parents, carers and educational professionals, a few signs of sextortion to look out for include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n