Exploring the Alarming Sextortion Epidemic and the Fight to Slow its Spread in the U.S.

It’s been called the largest blackmail operation in human history and one of the fastest growing cybercrimes in the country — sextortion has become a national crisis. The crime occurs when nudes or explicit videos are used to blackmail the person depicted. The perpetrators are often financially motivated, but they may also be driven by other factors as well. 

So, how did sextortion become such a pervasive issue? While some of it is a byproduct of the internet’s evolution, sextortion today isn’t just a few scammers looking for quick cash. It’s organized, sophisticated, and malicious.

The Alarming Rise in Sextortion Cases

Multiple studies taken by different organizations reported that sextortion has significantly increased over the past few years. In 2022, the FBI received around 7,000 total sextortion reports from minors. Then, from October 2022 to March 2023, the FBI saw at least a 20% increase in sextortion reports.

Furthermore, the Cybertipline is a centralized reporting system for online child sexual exploitation. Created by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), the Cybertipline reviews and sends reports to the appropriate law enforcement agency. The NCMEC revealed that the nonprofit received 15,987 reports of financial sextortion in 2022. The number of reports also grew exponentially the next year by 67%.

These figures demonstrate a general surge in sextortion cases involving minors. However, it’s important to note that these numbers represent an underreporting of actual sextortion cases. Victims of sextortion commonly experience intense shame and humiliation, which discourages them from reporting the incident. It’s impossible to know how many sextortion victims there are every year, but we can use other metrics to get a better idea.

Over the past seven years, the amount of Google searches about sextortion has climbed every year, increasing by over 200% in 2023. You can also look at the number of members in the sextortion subreddit community. The community was created in 2020 and in 2023 had around 20K members. Now, the community has 37K members and counting.

Snap Inc., the company behind Snapchat, conducted a survey in 2024 that involved over 6,000 13 to 24-year-olds in 6 different countries. The following is what was observed:

• 23% stated that they had been victims of sextortion.
• 51% reported getting into risky situations that could have led to sextortion.

Despite the efforts to slow the spread of the crime, the rate of sextortion has continued to grow. Sextortionists operate from all over the world, and their reach has only increased. However, one of the biggest causes of the spike in numbers comes from an organized sextortion gang called The Yahoo Boys. 

Who Are the Yahoo Boys?

Remember the Nigerian Prince scheme? Those scammers haven’t disappeared. They evolved with the times to become more effective cybercriminals. ‘The Yahoo Boys’ is a term that originates from Nigerian phishing scammers using Yahoo email domains in the 2000s. Now, the term describes scammers based out of Nigeria and occasionally West African countries. They are associated with many online scams but are most well-known for their sextortion schemes. 

The Tactics of a Sextortion Scammer

The Yahoo Boys exploit online platforms to target tens, if not hundreds, of users at a time. Using convincing fake profiles, these criminals will send unsolicited friend requests along with messages to initiate contact and work to gain the victim’s trust. Here are the most common ways the Yahoo Boys target and build trust with their victims.

• Catfishing accounts are not always vacant profiles with no followers. Sometimes, they are authentic accounts with years of credibility established. Yahoo Boys will often pay to hijack hacked or stolen social media accounts, exploiting them to target the account owner’s friends and family. 
• The Yahoo Boys will “bomb” high schools, youth groups, and sports teams with follow requests from fake profiles. This gives them mutual friends to instantly establish credibility with the potential targets.
• Once a user accepts a friend or follow request from a Yahoo Boy, the criminals now have access to personal information that can be used as leverage. Posts, profile bios, and follower lists are then all available to be weaponized against the profile user. 
• Yahoo Boys typically rely on pre-recorded videos of attractive women to quickly build trust with male victims. They use these videos to alleviate suspicions of being deceptive, making it appear as if the videos were taken in real-time. AI and deepfake technology are also tools that can create convincing explicit videos.

How Sextortionists Attempt to Force Victims into Compliance

Not only do the Yahoo Boys threaten to leak someone’s intimate images or videos, but they also threaten to ruin their lives. The criminal gang primarily targets the youth in English-speaking countries like the U.S., Australia, or the U.K. They will intimidate their targets with terrifying claims of how exposure could destroy relationships, careers, and public perception. 

For minors, these threats can hold more weight with schools being shaped by how children are perceived by classmates and teachers. They will often make claims that exposed nudes will jeopardize scholarships or turn the victim into a social pariah at school. 

It’s also common for Yahoo Boys to take screenshots of a message in draft that includes the explicit content ready to be sent to the victim’s contacts or followers. These tactics can cause extreme emotional distress, which, in some cases, can lead to victims making devastating decisions. 

The Motives Behind the Yahoo Boys

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, 63% of Nigerian residents were living in poverty in 2022. Improving standards of living is one of the main motivations for people turning to cybercrime. The Yahoo Boys, in particular, are well-known within Nigeria for their wealth and lavish lifestyles. The juxtaposition of a high poverty rate and Yahoo Boys flaunting their money attracts a lot of younger people who desire the same luxuries. 

In a study conducted by the University of Lagos, Nigeria, they investigated the different motives for young people joining the Yahoo Boys. Data from their study suggests that young people join the Yahoo Boys because of low job security and a distressed economy. 

The influence of peers plays a major role as well. College students and new graduates in Nigeria are desperate for work, and seeing young cybercriminals showing off their wealth encourages others around the same age to follow that same path. Data also indicates that cybercriminals in Nigeria are not always honest with their parents about what they do to make money. Many of the criminals allow their parents to believe that they have a “regular” job.

The Role of the Yahoo Boys in the Surge of Sextortion

The Yahoo Boys have been consistently linked to widespread financial sextortion scams across multiple platforms. In fact, Meta identified tens of thousands of accounts that were linked to the criminal organization and, specifically, around 20 individuals. While the activity of the Yahoo Boys is a major factor in the rise of sextortion, an even more influential factor could be that the organization shared their sextortion ‘playbook’ publicly online. All their tactics and sextortion scripts were published on multiple social media platforms and accessible to anyone.

On TikTok, YouTube, and Scribd, the Yahoo Boys’ sextortion scripts were viewed 500,000 times before the platforms removed them. In an investigation conducted by the Network Contagion Research Institute, it was reported that many sextortion attacks could be traced back to the scripts the Yahoo Boys released on social media networks.

AI is Powering a New Wave of Sextortion Attacks

In December 2024, the FBI released a PSA about criminals exploiting generative AI for sextortion among many other cybercrimes. Not only is AI accessible but it can also look extremely convincing. Cybercriminals will often utilize generative AI to create and use artificial nude images of someone for blackmail. They may also use the technology to create convincing catfish profiles with photos that can’t be reverse image searched. 

The new technology has also helped cybercriminals create sextortion scripts in different languages. AI has given criminals the ability to scale their operations and streamline their methods — leading to even more sextortion attacks.

Combatting the Rise of Sextortion

Sextortion may be increasing, but there are active efforts to fight against it. American legislators, law enforcement, and online platforms have all implemented measures to reduce the risk of exploitation. Much of the focus is on protecting children from sextortion. However, anyone is at risk of being targeted.

Social Media Platforms

Social media platforms are attempting to combat the surge of fake profiles created by scammers. By using AI technology, platforms like Facebook have been able to detect and remove fake accounts at an early stage. In 2024, Meta removed 63,000 accounts linked to financial sextortion scams. 

Furthermore, online platforms are relying on reporting systems to be alerted to behavior that violates community standards. While it’s always a good idea to report sextortion threats to the online platform, the response to the report can be inconsistent. For example, a University of Michigan study examining Twitter’s handling of NCII abuse found that no report resulted in action. However, a DMCA Takedown Notice resulted in action being taken within a three-week period.

Meta has also partnered with the NCMEC to create the Take It Down service. The tool is a free platform that helps NCII abuse victims remove or prevent the sharing of nudes. The service creates a unique digital code to represent the explicit image or video file. Then, the digital code is shared with participating online platforms, like Reddit, Facebook, and TikTok, for them to detect and remove the explicit content or block it from being uploaded. 

The tool is a valuable method to protect online reputation. However, there is still a long way to go before sextortion is eradicated from these online platforms. While these small steps are appreciated, many cybercriminals continue to exploit social media networks with zero consequence. 

The Legal Response

Online platforms are not the only institution gradually taking steps to fight sextortion. American lawmakers are starting to see sextortion as an issue that needs to be addressed as well. As of 2025, every state has passed laws criminalizing non-consensual distribution of intimate images. However, less than half of all states have passed laws criminalizing sextortion as a felony. Just this year, Ohio became the 19th state to enact specific laws against sextortion. 

Other states address sextortion within the framework of existing laws which can lead to uncertain paths to pursue justice. Nonprofits play an important role in advocating for stronger laws against sextortion and NCII abuse. In May 2025, President Trump signed the TAKE IT DOWN Act, which federally criminalizes NCII abuse, into law. This measure was heavily supported by the NCMEC. There is a lot more that needs to be done to protect sextortion victims legally. However, progress is being made.

Fighting Sextortion Starts with Education

While we can’t directly control the law or online platforms, we can fight against sextortion through education. Cybercriminals target users who are unaware of their tactics. However, the more people that understand what sextortion is, the less power cybercriminals will hold. Michigan lawmakers are aware of this fact, and recently introduced legislation to ensure children in grades 6–12 are educated about sextortion.

Adults need to stay educated as well. It’s also important to spread awareness about sextortion to those you know. Whether it’s big or small, any action taken to educate yourself or spread awareness about the crime can make a real difference.