Stephen Menon

Emma describes being secretly recorded during a video call at age 17 by a man who posed as a teenager, then being threatened with the release of intimate images for a year. She says the threats led her to meet him, where she was drugged and raped, and were later used to isolate and control her. The report documents rising sextortion cases in the UK: Childline recorded 1,043 counselling sessions involving threats to share sexual images in the year to March 2026, while the National Crime Agency received 1,473 reports of financially motivated sexual extortion in 2025. Police and charities say increased awareness may explain part of the rise, but the offence remains significantly underreported. Victim-support organizations stress that coerced victims are not to blame and should seek help and report abuse.