New NCMEC Resource Helps Parents Talk to Kids About Sextortion

Today, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) is releasing a new discussion guide for parents and caregivers to accompany NCMEC’s interactive experience No Escape Room. With back-to-school season here, children are using technology more in their daily lives. 

Increased screen time can also mean more exposure to online risks. The new school year can be an opportunity to check in with children about their online experiences, have conversations about staying safe online and educate them on the growing threat of financial sextortion. Available in both English and Spanish, our new discussion guide provides helpful tools for parents and caregivers as they navigate these conversations.   

Released in 2024, NCMEC's No Escape Room is an interactive experience that immerses users in the reality of financial sextortion based on real-life data from NCMEC's CyberTipline reports. Throughout the video, a teen faces several decisions that can affect what happens next. Viewers choose which direction the story takes, providing insight into how quickly sextortion can happen, and the split-second decisions children may face online.

Financial sextortion is a form of blackmail in which a child, oftentimes a teenage boy, is targeted by someone they met online who obtains sexual images of the child through deception, coercion or other methods. In many cases, the offender pretends to be someone around the same age as the child to gain their trust. Once a nude or sexual image is shared, the offender may threaten to share it publicly unless the victim sends money, often demanding hundreds of dollars.

Many teenagers do not have access to that kind of money and may hand over anything they have, but the demands may not end there, and the predator will keep coming back for more. Tragically, NCMEC has seen cases that end in suicide after victims feel trapped and fear that the explicit images could ruin their reputation once they are shared. 

NCMEC continues to see an increase in financial sextortion cases. Last year, the CyberTipline received more than 80,000 reports related to sextortion and an average of 137 reports of financial sextortion a day. That is a 37% increase in the daily reports compared to the previous year. 

The new No Escape Room discussion guide follows each of the teen’s decisions in the video and provides additional context, conversation starters and safety strategies. Parents and caregivers are urged to use the guide to explore the scenarios with their children and develop a prevention strategy together. 

Assets in the No Escape Room Discussion Guide. (Courtesy of NCMEC) 

With school back in session, it is important for parents and caregivers to talk with their children about what to do if they experience sextortion and to learn about the prevention resources available to them. By starting these conversations, we can prepare and provide children with the tools they need to stay safe as they spend more time online.

You can view the No Escape Room Discussion Guide in English here and in Spanish here.  

NCMEC's interactive experience, No Escape Room, is available here: https://noescaperoom.org/.