TRICK OR THREAT: The world of online sextortion

Last updated on Tuesday, 19/05/2026

“Pay 500 euros, or I’m gonna send your nudes to all of your friends and family”. It was a chilling message like this that Alek received from “Laura", a girl he had been chatting with online. But Laura was never real. She’s a part of new tactics scammers use to extract money from young Europeans.

Online sextortion is a form of blackmail in which sexual information or images are used for personal gain. It’s becoming an increasingly common phenomenon among young people across Europe. Child Focus (a Belgian foundation, European Center for Missing and Sexually Exploited Children), and the Internet Watch Foundation all describe a sharp increase in sextortion cases with organised criminals becoming increasingly adept at targeting younger victims through the use of AI.

“The cases we register are only the visible tip of the iceberg. Research consistently points to massive dark numbers in image-based sexual abuse and sextortion,” a Child Focus representative said.

We spoke with Alek, a 20-year-old student from Belgium, who encountered one of these scams. He was contacted on Instagram by someone named “Laura”, who posed as a girl from the US who came to Belgium on holiday to take care of her sick grandma. The conversations were well thought out and casual until she started to send him suggestive photographs and asked for his in return. 

Alek commented, “Looking back, given the fact that it was a scam, she did put a lot of effort into getting things out from your side in order to gain your trust. But at a certain moment, you get the question: "Do you maybe happen to be horny?”

Soon after that message, the scammer posing as Laura asked to switch to Telegram. Supposedly, because you can block screenshots there in secret chats, but in reality, it’s the favourite platform of scammers due to its high level of anonymity and lack of strict content moderation.

These kinds of scammers are called Yahoo boys, they are often males in their 20’s. They work in criminal organisations specialised in online scams, including sextortion. Sextortion takes many different forms. Alek's experience is a prime example of the way transnational criminals lure victims into sexual encounters online before blackmailing them.

Alek never sent real nudes and used AI-generated ones instead, without his face depicted. Because he grew wary of the interactions, he decided to do a trick: “It was something that seemed fairly obvious to me to immediately find out. That was just asking for something specific, like taking a picture with a spoon”. It’s simple tests like these that boys often use to check against catfishing, but now advanced scammers sometimes use AI to seem more legit. But this wasn't yet the case with Alek, and the scammer couldn’t do it. The blackmailing started soon after. Alek described it as a total switch. 

“Then they started calling me and so on. And started threatening that I had to reply now, or they would release it. At that moment, I really was… yes, in panic. What am I supposed to do with something like that? Because, okay, they are not real photos. But you also do not want that getting sent to everyone. One of the people in the chat they were going to leak it to was my aunt, who also followed me on Instagram.”

The scammers asked for 500 Euros, which Alek ignored. Child Focus and other specialised organisations advise victims to take screenshots of the conversation as evidence and then proceed to block them. With these kinds of organised criminals, chances are low that they will actually leak photos, as it would leave more incriminating evidence leading to them. Once you pay, you become entangled in their web, and the perpetrator will always keep asking for more.

One report finds that over 90% of victims of financial sextortion are boys, and most don’t come forward or report. According to Child Focus, boys are generally far less likely to seek help than girls. This is mostly due to shame, as boys are socialised to manage problems independently and fear being perceived as weak or naive. There’s also deep mistrust and scepticism as Alek argued: “It is not that the police do not do their job. But against things like this, they cannot really do anything because it happens online.”

Yet, police enforcement forces and Child Focus stress the importance of reporting cases like these, as it builds the intelligence picture. “Europo has specifically launched cross-border campaigns targeting the rise of sextortion precisely because aggregated police data is what triggers coordinated international operations.” Child Focus representative warns.

Instagram is aware of the issue of sextortion on its platform, but hasn't done enough to prevent it, according to critics. New features added in 2024 should have made the platform safer for teens by blurring possible nude pics in direct messages, preventing screenshots of disappearing images and photos and showing if an account is possibly from another country. However, most of these new features do little to prevent sextortion, according to the whistleblower Arturo Béjar. As he pointed out to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), "The way the product is designed, by the time they need to report for sextortion, the damage is already done."

Alek also added that he found it difficult to report the acts of sextortion to social media companies: “I started reporting it [on Instagram] and asked my friends to do so as well. My friends sent screenshots of the menu you get when you want to report something on Instagram, asking: “What should I select?” Because there are options like “I am being harassed” or “my explicit content is being shared”. But how do you report something like this?”

After multiple reports and multiple rejections from Instagram due to insufficient evidence, Laura’s account was taken down. But there still exist 3 different copies of Laura’s account that are still operating.

But Child Focus notes that victims have more leverage than they think: “The EU's Digital Services Act gives victims far more rights than they realise: platforms must take reports of illegal content seriously and respond swiftly. Young people don't know they have this legal lever. That awareness gap costs victims weeks of unnecessary suffering.”

While Alek reported not having suffered too much from it, as he only sent AI pictures without a face on them. The emotional impact on other victims can be severe. Especially for teenagers. For an adult, a threat to share intimate images is a serious violation. For a teen it can genuinely feel like the end of the world, because of the fear of peer perception. According to Child Focus, it can lead to severe anxiety, depression, social isolation and in the most tragic cases, self-harm or suicide.

“Victims were not foolish — they were lured into a trap specifically designed by professional criminal gangs. The perpetrators exploit the natural curiosity and openness of young people. That is not naivety; that is being human,” a Child Focus representative said.

If you ever come into contact with a scam like this, call a Safer Internet Centre helpline. Every country in Europe has one. Their network covers 30+ countries, and all lines are confidential. 

 

Young Journalists in Europe - Meet the author

Ella Pauwels

“I was born and raised in Brussels, a city often seen as Europe’s political capital. Growing up there sparked my interest in politics on a broader scale, but also taught me that the city is more than its institutions. It is shaped by people, voices and everyday stories that deserve to be heard.”

Elisabetta Semeraro

“I’m from Italy and currently pursuing a master’s degree in International Relations at the University of Bologna. By joining the Pool of Young Journalists, I aim to cultivate my passion for journalism by combining storytelling with global politics and international affairs.”

Tia Grgin

“My name is Tia. I am a third-year student of English Language and Literature and Philosophy at the University of Split. I am an editor of the magazine "The Split Mind" and a competitive debater. In my free time, I volunteer, write poetry and prose, and organise events whenever I can.”

Article collaborators: Karol Hejduk

This article reflects the views of the authors only. The European Commission and Eurodesk cannot be held responsible for it.