One in 10 UK parents say their child has been blackmailed online, NSPCC finds

"Nearly one in 10 UK parents say their child has been blackmailed online, with harms ranging from threatening to release intimate pictures to revealing details about someone's personal life. The NSPCC child protection charity also found that one in five parents know a child who has experienced online blackmail, while two in five said they rarely or never talked to their children about the subject."

"The National Crime Agency has said that it is receiving more than 110 reports a month of child sextortion attempts, where criminal gangs trick teenagers into sending intimate pictures of themselves and then blackmail them. Agencies across the UK, US and Australia have confirmed a rising number of sextortion cases involving teenage boys and young adult males being targeted by cyber-criminal gangs based in west Africa or south-east Asia, some of which have ended in tragedy."

"The NSPCC based its findings on a survey of more than 2,500 parents and said that tech companies were continuing to fall short in their duty to protect children. Rani Govender, a policy manager at NSPCC, said: Children deserve to be safe online, and that must be built into the very fabric of these platforms, not bolted on after harm has already been done."

Nearly one in 10 UK parents say their child has been blackmailed online, including threats to release intimate pictures or reveal private personal details. One in five parents know a child who has experienced online blackmail, while two in five rarely or never discuss the topic with their children. The National Crime Agency receives more than 110 reports a month of child sextortion, where gangs trick teenagers into sending intimate images and then blackmail them. Cases targeting teenage boys and young adult males are rising, with gangs based in west Africa and south-east Asia implicated and some cases ending in suicide. The NSPCC surveyed over 2,500 parents and said tech companies are still falling short in protecting children. Definitions of blackmail include threats involving images or private information obtained consensually, by coercion, or created using artificial intelligence.

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