Sextortion: A Male Issue

We previously discussed online romance fraud, but there is an offshoot that seems to target boys and men. Sextortion sees a victim talk to someone online, then send intimate photos or video, or engage in intimate behaviour on a video call, before being blackmailed by the person at the other end. They will demand money or payment or threaten to post the images online or to loved ones.

Young men are the most likely targets, with more than one in five high school, secondary school, and university students being targeted and falling victim to fraudsters, and a record number of young people reported being victims of extortion in 2025.

The pressure and shame some feel can be so great that it can lead to a victim taking their own life, such as in the case of 16-year-old Murray Downey, who died in 2023 after he was tricked into sending intimate images of himself and told they would be sent to his family if he did not pay. His mother is now attempting to sue Meta - the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, for not doing enough to protect its users.

If you fall victim to a sextortion scam, the advice is very simple - don't panic. Scammers will try to pile on the pressure and hurry you into paying them off, as well as threatening you into staying quiet about the whole situation.

Nationwide Building Society, which conducted its own investigation and published its findings in April 2026, offered advice:

• Stop and pause before sharing images or personal details. It’s safest not to share images or personal information. Have you met them in person? It’s not a failsafe but it’s more reliable than just chatting online. Once shared there is no going back.

• Never move to another platform at someone else’s request. Fraudsters deliberately shift conversations very quickly to less secure channels. What’s the hurry? Make the most of the protection.

• Do not send money, gift cards, or codes – even if being threatened. Scammers thrive on panic and urgency; paying once always leads to more demands.

• Being rushed. This is a classic scammer tactic; they will put you under time pressure, which will stop you from thinking about what you are about to do.

• Talk to someone you trust and report it. Shame is what scammers rely on. Confiding in the police, a friend, a family member, or a bank allows for faster action and protection.

In addition, Childline has a system called Report Remove, which can be used by under-18s to confidentially report sexual images and videos of themselves that have been posted online and get them removed from the internet. It also allows nude images to be preemptively blocked so they can never be posted by scammers in the first place.