NM FBI office offers sextortion warning

The FBI in New Mexico is warning parents and children about a significant increase in the number of sextortion reports during the past year.

From Jan. 1 to Dec. 19, the FBI’s National Threat Operations Center received 168 e-tips or calls about possible sextortion cases in New Mexico. During the same period in 2021, the NTOC received 38 e-tips or calls for New Mexico.

Even though some tips might reference the same incidents, the increase is serious enough that the FBI wants to bring this crime to the public’s attention as schools let out for the holidays and children are expected to spend more time online, according to a news release.

This announcement comes on the heels of the FBI, in partnership with Homeland Security Investigations and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, issuing a national public safety alert regarding an explosion in sextortion incidents in which children and teens are coerced into sending explicit images online and extorted for money.

You can learn how sextortion works and how to talk to your children about it, the release stated through resources at fbi.gov/Stop Sextortion.