Federal law enforcement officials warned Monday of an "explosion" in "sextortion" cases targeting teenagers and young boys online, saying it has been linked to at least 12 suicides this year, The Washington Post reported.
Officials issued a public safety alert urging parents and children to remain vigilant online before the holiday break. Criminals online, many from west Africa, are posing as females and asking young victims for sexually explicit pictures. Once they receive the photos, the extortioners threaten to reveal them publicly unless a ransom is paid.
The FBI and Justice Department said a large portion of the sextortion crimes originate in Nigeria and the Ivory Coast. In the past year, authorities have received more than 7,000 reports related to sextortion and confirmed around 3,000 minor victims in the country, the Justice Department said.
Most of the boys targeted are between the ages of 14 and 17, though officials say they have identified victims as young as 10.
Officials did not disclose how much money has been collected in the sextortion schemes, but described them as "successful," with one official saying that is "why it is happening on the scale that it is." Still, they said, extortioners often release the images even if payments are made, the Post reported.
Pursuing the cases are complicated when the suspects live abroad and would need to be extradited to be held accountable.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children urged children to seek help before deciding whether to pay the extortioners. They also said parents and children should block the account of the predator, but not delete any communication, because those messages may be helpful to help law enforcement investigations, the Post reported.
"This is a level of harassment we haven't seen recently in regards to our children," the FBI official said.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.