US EditionSexual extortion of children for money is on the rise: financial intelligence agency
Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada issued 57 intelligence disclosures in 2024-25 identifying 157 subjects linked to online sexual extortion of children.
- On Nov. 27, 2025, the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada published an alert warning banks and reporting entities of rising sexual extortion of children involving cash, gift cards, or images.
- Fintrac noted that motivations vary but reports rising financially motivated offending, including sexual extortion of children, with some high-risk jurisdictions attracting offenders due to economic conditions and weak laws.
- Offenders typically pose as peers online on social media platforms to obtain nude images, then blackmail victims for money or gift cards via payment channels; Fintrac found nearly all perpetrators male, while Cybertip reports boys face financial extortion and girls are asked for more images.
- Support for Project Shadow included Fintrac disclosures, which identified 57 subjects of interest in 2024-25 to law enforcement partners including the RCMP.
- The alert builds on December 2020 strategic intelligence and lists high‑risk jurisdictions including the Philippines, Thailand, India, South Africa, Dominican Republic, Mexico and Cuba, as online child sexual exploitation rises globally.
13 Articles
13 Articles
Incidents of Sexual Extortion for Money Targeting Youth Escalating: Financial Intelligence Agency
Sexual extortion of children for profit is on the rise, Canada’s financial intelligence agency says, and a large portion of such activities are tied to organized crime. This form of online coercion consists of threats to share sexual images or videos of a victim unless they provide the offenders with money or additional pictures, the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) says in a newly published operational aler…
The Canadian Financial Intelligence Agency warns against this type of online blackmail.
The Canadian Financial Intelligence Agency warns against an increase in cases of sexual extortion of children for financial purposes — acts often related to organized crime.
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