Trenton Mihm
Banned
Published: May 11, 2025 at 3:03 PM CDT|Updated: 2 hours ago
OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) - The numbers show more and more, criminals are threatening to widely share explicit photos of people.
Special Agent Gene Kowel with the FBI Omaha Field Office says there’s something new driving this growing trend.
“What we’re seeing now is financial sextortion where the adult is doing this not for sexual gratification, but for financial gain,” Kowel said.
Data from the FBI show sextortion has skyrocketed since in recent years.
In 2019, nearly 11,000 victims and $22.6 million in losses.
Five years later, almost 55,000 victims and $33.5 million in losses.
That’s four times the number of victims now.
“Anyone can be a victim. Anyone can be targeted. But the trend we see is young males,” Kowel said.
Specifically, teens.
“It’s causing real emotional trauma and turmoil for kids, and horrifically some kids commit suicide.”
Kowel says they’re tracing many of these criminals back to West Africa and the Philippines.
He says you could have never even taken an explicit photo and still fall victim.
“Artificial intelligence is going to cause this problem to grow exponentially,” Kowel said.
“...with synthetic image generation the ability for criminals to create, and this technology already exists, images of someone that are explicit and threaten to send them to their friends, their peers, their school.”
For families, here are a few reminders:
OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) - The numbers show more and more, criminals are threatening to widely share explicit photos of people.
Special Agent Gene Kowel with the FBI Omaha Field Office says there’s something new driving this growing trend.
“What we’re seeing now is financial sextortion where the adult is doing this not for sexual gratification, but for financial gain,” Kowel said.
Data from the FBI show sextortion has skyrocketed since in recent years.
In 2019, nearly 11,000 victims and $22.6 million in losses.
Five years later, almost 55,000 victims and $33.5 million in losses.
That’s four times the number of victims now.
“Anyone can be a victim. Anyone can be targeted. But the trend we see is young males,” Kowel said.
Specifically, teens.
“It’s causing real emotional trauma and turmoil for kids, and horrifically some kids commit suicide.”
Kowel says they’re tracing many of these criminals back to West Africa and the Philippines.
He says you could have never even taken an explicit photo and still fall victim.
“Artificial intelligence is going to cause this problem to grow exponentially,” Kowel said.
“...with synthetic image generation the ability for criminals to create, and this technology already exists, images of someone that are explicit and threaten to send them to their friends, their peers, their school.”
For families, here are a few reminders:
- Be selective with what you share online, both publicly and privately
- Have honest, open conversations with your child about their activity online
- Stop communication and report
