The Financially Motivated Sextortion Threat

The FBI issued a new warning about an evolving online threat targeting minors and young adults: financially motivated sextortion.

In these schemes, predators typically pretend to be alluring young girls to befriend teen boys—often on social media and gaming platforms. The predators then trick these teens into exchanging sexually explicit material or believing the predators have already obtained it.

Once the scammers have a victim’s pictures or video, they demand money to keep the explicit material from being shared with the victim’s family and friends. Even when victims comply, scammers often demand more money and escalate the threats.

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