UK Sextortion Reports Hit Record High, Mostly Boys Aged 14-17
UK Sextortion Reports Hit Record High, Mostly Boys Aged 14-17
Record numbers of UK children report sextortion to the Report Remove helpline, with 394 cases last year, 98% involving boys aged 14-17, prompting calls for stronger on-device protections.
A record number of British children are reporting being blackmailed over sexual images, a form called sextortion, with most reports in 2025 coming from boys aged 14 to 17. The Report Remove helpline logged 394 sextortion claims last year, up 23% from the year before. The majority of these cases involve young boys, making up about 98% of reports.
Hannah Swirsky, head of policy at the Internet Watch Foundation, said survivors face stigma and fear of images continuing to circulate, and noted that most sexually exploitative material found by the IWF involves girls, highlighting a different pattern for sextortion.
Experts are calling on the government to deploy protective tech such as on-device nudity detection and blocking to prevent sending images before coercion forms; Swirsky said such tools can help stop image sharing if someone has been groomed.
Beyond the 394 sextortion reports, the Report Remove service logged 1,894 nude or sexual imagery reports by children last year; launched in 2021 and run by the IWF and Childline. The call is for more support and education aimed at boys at risk.
