Sexual extortion of children for money is on the rise: financial intelligence agency

A man uses a computer keyboard in Toronto in this Sunday, Oct. 9, 2023, photo illustration. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graeme Roy

OTTAWA — Canada’s financial intelligence agency is warning of an increase in cases of sexual extortion of children for profit — acts that often are linked to organized crime.

This type of online blackmail involves threats to distribute sexual images or videos of a victim if they don’t send the perpetrators cash or, in some cases, more pictures.

In a newly published alert, the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada advises banks and other businesses to be on the lookout for specific dealings and patterns that could point to extortion or other forms of child sexual exploitation.

The federal centre, known as Fintrac, identifies cash linked to money laundering by analyzing millions of pieces of information each year from banks, insurance companies, securities dealers, money service businesses, real estate brokers, casinos and others.

The centre discloses the intelligence it gathers to law enforcement and security partners, including the RCMP and other police services.

The new alert builds on strategic intelligence published by Fintrac in December 2020, reflecting fresh developments and drawing on lessons learned.

It supports Project Shadow, a project co-led by Scotiabank and the Canadian Centre for Child Protection that includes international financial intelligence units, law enforcement agencies and private sector partners.

Fintrac says it generated 57 financial intelligence disclosures for law enforcement agencies in support of Project Shadow in 2024-25. Those disclosures identified 157 subjects of interest, the agency adds.

“Online child sexual exploitation is a disturbing global crime targeting children that continues to rise year after year, not only in the number of confirmed reports showing child sexual abuse images, but also in the severity of the images and videos,” the alert says.

“The motivation for sexually exploiting children varies, and while most perpetrators commit child sexual exploitation for sexual gratification and not financial gain, there has been an increase in financially motivated offending, including sexual extortion cases in recent years.”

Fintrac’s analysis of transactions related to online child sexual exploitation revealed that nearly all of the suspected perpetrators were male. They held a wide range of occupations or described themselves as retired, with the majority ranging in age from late 20s to 60s.

The alert notes the Canadian Centre for Child Protection reports that offenders have used social media platforms to pose online as a young person, build rapport and entice the victim to send a nude image or video.

Once the images are shared, the culprit will blackmail the victim, demanding money or commodities such as gift cards, or additional images, to keep the pictures from being shared publicly or with family and friends, the alert says.

Fintrac says that according to sources consulted by Cybertip, a national tip line for reporting online sexual abuse of children, demands for money have been known to come from international organized criminal networks.

“Cybertip further highlights that boys are often targets of financial sexual extortion, while girls are more often extorted for more images,” the alert says.

Fintrac lists various indicators related to possible online child exploitation. It says signs of sexual extortion could include quick depletion of an account by way of email money transfers, online gift card purchases or funds sent to peer-to-peer fund transfer platforms.

In some cases, there are references in transaction notes that suggest the funds were extorted from the senders, including references to explicit material or pleading language such as “please stop” or “delete the video.”

Fintrac says certain countries may be of interest to sex offenders due to their economic state, a lack of legislation for protecting at-risk individuals or relative proximity to Canada.

These high-risk jurisdictions include the Philippines, Thailand, India, South Africa, the Dominican Republic, Mexico and Cuba, the alert says.

Fintrac also cited an increase in online purchases of child sexual exploitation material using virtual currencies, often by men in their late 20s to 30s.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 27, 2025.

Jim Bronskill, The Canadian Press