The FBI Pittsburgh field office is warning parents and caregivers about an increase in incidents in the area involving sextortion of teenagers. Adults pose as females on social media sites, coerce young boys to produce sexual images and videos, and then extort money from them.

Sextortion begins when an adult contacts a minor over any online platform such as a game, app or social media. The predator poses as a young girl and convinces a young male to engage in explicit activity over video, which is recorded by the scammer. The scammer then reveals that they have made the recordings and attempts to extort the victim for money to prevent them from being posted online.

The coercion of a child by an adult to produce what is considered child sexual abuse material carries heavy penalties, which can include up to life in prison. To stop the extortion, victims typically have to come forward to a parent, teacher, caregiver or police. The embarrassment victims feel can prevent them from coming forward. Sextortion offenders may have hundreds of victims around the world, so coming forward may prevent other incidents.

"These are not the traditional child predators that are just looking for more explicit images. They’re looking for money,” said FBI Pittsburgh Special Agent in Charge Mike Nordwall. “We want parents and caregivers to talk with their kids about schemes like this. We want kids to know that if someone they’ve met on social media starts asking for videos and photos and eventually money, that person should be reported.”

In 2021, the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center received more than 18,000 sextortion-related complaints, with losses over $13.6 million.

Sextortion complaints should be reported to the FBI. The Pittsburgh office can be reached at 412-432-4000. The FBI said victims shouldn’t delete anything before law enforcement is able to review it.