While both men and women can be victims, our evidence suggests that men aged between 19 and 35 are predominately targets,” an NCA spokesperson says.
“Sadly, this a serious and organised crime that preys upon people’s emotions and vulnerability. The NCA says victims are often initially contacted through social media and dating websites. The majority of sextortion crimes can be traced back to organised crime groups, mostly based overseas National Crime Agency In 2015, the number of cases reported was only 345. The National Crime Agency (NCA) says reports of sextortion scams soared in 2020, from 1,607 reports in 2019 to 2,881. These involve acquiring intimate photos or videos of an individual, “nudes”, and using these to blackmail the victim.
Another way that criminals extract money from unwitting daters is through sextortion scams.
