It usually starts with a follow request from a pretty girl about your son's age. She's friendly, she flirts, she asks to move the conversation to Snapchat, Discord, or a video call, and she sends a nude photo and asks for one back. The moment he does, everything changes. She demands money and threatens to send the photo to everyone he knows. It was never a girl. It's an online predator.

This is sextortion.

What You'll Learn

• How a typical sextortion scheme starts and unfolds
• Who is most targeted by sextortion schemes
• How predators use AI nudify apps to target children
• The warning signs of an online predator your kids should know
• The conversations every parent needs to have
• Simple precautions that make your child harder to target
• What to do if your child is being sextorted

Key Takeaways

It follows a script

Most cases look the same: a friendly account that seems to be a girl your son's age, a quick move to another app, a nude photo sent first, a request for one back, and then immediate threats and demands for money.

It's an organized crime

Sextortion is one of the fastest-growing crimes against children. The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) received more than 50,000 reports of financial sextortion in 2025. In one study of NCMEC's reports, 90% of victims were boys ages 14 to 17. In 2024, Meta removed about 63,000 Instagram accounts in Nigeria tied to sextortion, along with Facebook groups selling scripts for sextorting kids.

Most cases are never reported

The numbers only include the cases that get reported. Many kids never tell anyone. When we speak in schools, young men regularly tell us they've been sextorted, and we are often the first people they've ever told.

A real photo isn't even required

Predators can now use AI nudify apps to create fake nude images from ordinary photos, including pictures posted on a parent's or school's social media account.

Your reaction decides whether they come to you

Kids stay silent because they're scared and ashamed. If your child knows ahead of time that they won't be in trouble and that you'll help, they're far more likely to come to you before the situation gets worse.

Reflection Questions

• If someone were threatening my child right now, would they come to me?
• What would my first words be if my child told me they'd sent a photo?
• Does my child know that anyone online can pretend to be anyone, including someone their age?
• Where is my child's phone at night?
• What photos of my child are public on my accounts, or on their school's accounts?

For Discussion or Journaling

• Together, walk through how sextortion unfolds and ask your child if they'd recognize it.
• Ask: "Has anyone you don't know ever asked to move to a different app or asked you to send an inappropriate picture?"
• Go through the warning signs below and talk about why each one is a red flag.

Tips for Parents

1. Have the conversation early and often. Tell your child: "We love you more than anything. If anyone ever threatens you with a picture, real or fake, come to us. You will not be in trouble. We will help you."

2. Teach the warning signs of online predators: friend requests from accounts with no mutual friends; new social media accounts, especially ones that have posted a lot in a short time; overly friendly or complimentary messages from a stranger; attempts to move the conversation to another platform like Snapchat or Discord; and offers that sound too good to be true.

3. Keep phones out of bedrooms at night.

4. Set up parental controls on every app and device your child uses. Haven shows you exactly how to do this on the most popular platforms.

5. If it happens, stay calm. Tell your child it's not their fault and they are not in trouble. They are the victim of a crime, and the person on the other end is a criminal running a scam.

6. Stop responding and don't pay. Screenshot the username, profile, messages, and write down exactly what happened. Then block and report the account, but don’t delete anything.

7. Report it to NCMEC's CyberTipline at report.cybertip.org or 1-800-843-5678. If an image or video was shared online, use NCMEC's free Take It Down tool to help get it removed.

8. Stay close to your child in the hours, days, and weeks after. If there is any risk of self-harm, contact the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline or go to the emergency room right away.

Conclusion

Sextortion works because predators count on kids being too scared and ashamed to tell anyone. Talk about it early and often, teach your kids the warning signs, put simple protections in place, and make sure your child knows, without a doubt, that they can come to you.

This is Haven’s Sextortion module. Inside Haven, we cover all the major dangers kids face online, plus step-by-step guides for setting up parental controls on every popular app. Join Haven Today