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New platform and reporting data included below.
A seemingly harmless flirtation on a dating or social media app could be a deepfake mistake - the first step in a sextortion scam designed to elicit nudes before demanding payment.
In 2025, eSafety received more than 3,300 reports of sexual extortion through its image-based abuse scheme. Eighty-six per cent of these reports were from males of all ages and 42 per cent of all sextortion reports from males aged 18 to 24 years.
Now, eSafety is turning the tables on these scammers by using some of their techniques against them to raise awareness of this crime.
eSafety's latest educational initiative, ‘If sextortionists were honest’, reveals what sextortionists would actually say if they were honest from the start. Using generative AI, it exposes the deceptive tactics these criminals use to ensnare young men to help more of them spot the warning signs and know what to do if it happens to them.
“Criminals have always been early adopters of technology, exploiting its vulnerabilities to extend the reach and impact of their crimes,” eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said.
“They’re already adept at weaponising face-swapping and voice-cloning technologies. Now, they’re using generative AI to create fake but relatable, attractive online characters that appeal to lots of young men to propagate this scam. Generative AI also helps them to refine and perfect their duplicitous sextortion scripts, where typos and grammar mistakes would have formerly been ‘tells’.
“Offenders often make first contact on a dating app or social media platform, then quickly move the conversation to a private, encrypted messaging service or to ephemeral media platforms because of the common but incorrect belief that evidence cannot be captured. Here, they convince the victim to share intimate content by first sharing nudes they pretend to be theirs. At the same time, they’re gathering details of a victim’s family and friends from social media to use as leverage.”
Based on reports made to eSafety, first contact with a blackmailer frequently occurs on Tinder, Instagram and Grindr, before being moved to WhatsApp, Telegram or other messaging apps. Offenders will then trawl victims’ Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and Snapchat accounts to identify family members and friends they can threaten to contact with the victim’s intimate images.
In many cases, sextortionists are overseas and will use a range of tactics to make themselves appear local and legitimate, including:
- sharing nudes from other victims to fast-track trust and sexualised conversations
- phone number spoofing to make overseas calls or messages appear to come from an Australian +61 number
- using bank accounts belonging to previous victims to receive and move payments.
Ms Inman Grant said the threats used by offenders are designed to create panic and force quick decisions.
“These criminals send threatening messages, including countdown tactics, to manufacture fear and urgency. Paying rarely makes the threats stop; scammers often will often come back and demand more. The safest response is to cease all contact, report the account to the platform, block the offender, and seek support.
eSafety expects platforms to be taking concerted and proactive Safety by Design steps to stop this crime, including:
- using language analysis technology to detect likely terms, abbreviations, codes and hashtags indicating sexual extortion
- using classifiers to detect signals and metadata relevant to sexual extortion
- providing accessible pathways for users to report abuse, block perpetrators and swiftly remove image-based abuse
- taking appropriate enforcement action against material and/or accounts linked to sexual extortion, in accordance with platform policies
- collaborating and sharing through participation in signal sharing, hash matching and other relevant cross-platform initiatives.
No age group is immune
While reporting data shows young men are particularly vulnerable, eSafety warns that criminals are targeting Australians of all ages, including children.
“If you’ve been targeted, it’s not your fault and you’re a victim of a crime,” Ms Inman Grant said.
“One of the key tactics of sextortionists is to instill fear and shame, then isolate their targets and create panic to force payment. The most important thing you can do is talk to someone. Support is available and you don’t need to process this by yourself.”
What to do if it happens? Report. Block. Get support.
- Collect evidence: Save a record of the contact from the blackmailer, including how they contacted you, when it happened, usernames, payment requests, and any reports already made. Take screenshots, screen recordings or photos of messages or profiles.
- Report sexual extortion:
- If the person targeted is under 18, report to the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation (ACCCE).
- If the person targeted is 18 or over, report it to the platform or service where the blackmailer contacted you. If intimate content is shared, you can report it to eSafety.
- Stop contact and tighten security settings: Use in-app or device functions to block the scammer and update privacy settings to limit who can contact you.
- Get support: Sextortion can feel overwhelming. Support from a trusted person, counsellor or wellbeing service can help.
Learn more about sextortion and what to do if it happens to you or someone you care about.
ENDS
Examples of real threats made by blackmailers*
- I HAVE EVERYTHING TO RUIN YOUR LIFE
- ONLY MONEY CAN HELP YOU NOW TO END THIS PEACEFULLY
- I OWN YOUR VIDEO
- DO YOU WANT ME TO DELETE YOUR VIDEO SCANDAL
- NOW TELL ME SHARE OR DELTE?
- IM THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN SHARE AND DELETE THIS
- I DON’T F***ING CARE EVEN YOU BLOCK ME BRO I WILL STILL SPREAD THIS
- IF U NOT ANSWER ME U KNOW WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO YOU
*Based on screenshots sent by complainants to eSafety’s Image-Based Abuse Scheme.
Apps being targeted by sextortionists**
Where first contact frequently happens - Top 5 platforms for all ages
- TINDER
- GRINDR
- TIK TOK
- TELEGRAM
Where threats are frequently made - Top 5 platforms for all ages
- TELEGRAM
- IMESSAGE
- SNAPCHAT
Where blackmailers frequently harvest family and friends contacts - Top 5 platforms for all ages
- FACEBOOK MESSENGER
- TIK TOK
- SNAPCHAT
** Based on reports to eSafety between 1 July and 30 December 2025 for all age groups reporting sexual extortion. Please note: Not all reports include specific platform, age or demographic data. Reports can reference multiple platforms.
Contact details:
For more information or to request an interview, please contact:
Phone: 0439 519 684 (virtual line – please do not send texts)
or [email protected]