NCMEC Releases New Sextortion Data: Over 100 Reports Received Daily in 2025

The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) is releasing new data highlighting the continued and growing threat of financial sextortion targeting children and teens.

In 2025 alone, NCMEC received more than 50,000 reports of financially motivated sextortion, which averaged 137 reports per day. This is up significantly from more than 36,000 reports received in 2024.

The year-by-year breakdown of reports from when NCMEC began tracking the trend in 2022 through 2025 is below: 

Sextortion is a growing global threat, and NCMEC continues to receive increasing numbers of reports from children and teens around the world. As Internet Safety Month comes to a close, this new data highlights the need for ongoing education and prevention efforts to help keep young people safe online.

Although the majority of sextortion reports come from electronic service providers, when it comes to public reporting, the data also shows that children and families are often the first to take action. When the relationship to the victim is known, 94% of public sextortion reports came from the child victim or their parent, with most reports submitted directly by the children themselves.

NCMEC also saw changes in how offenders are operating. Many are moving conversations more quickly to private messaging and encrypted apps, making it harder to detect and connect related cases. Some encrypted platforms may have limited or no reporting to NCMEC, creating additional challenges in responding to these crimes.

When talking to the children in your life about the dangers of financial sextortion, remind them that if this should ever happen to them, they need to get help before deciding whether to pay money or comply with the blackmailer. Cooperating or paying rarely stops blackmail.  

Victims of sextortion may feel overwhelmed or that there is no way out, but there is hope. If this happens to a child in your life, remember that the blackmailer is to blame, not the child. Even if they made a choice they regret, what the offender is doing is a crime.  

Most importantly, victims of sextortion are not alone and NCMEC is here to help. If you or someone you know is a victim of sextortion, consider using the following resources:

For more information on sextortion, visit our website here: https://www.missingkids.org/theissues/sextortion

For more information and data on child exploitation, visit NCMEC’s 2025 CyberTipline report: https://www.missingkids.org/gethelpnow/cybertipline/cybertiplinedata