The Guardian has learned that written manuals and detailed video guides on sexual extortion for financial gain (commonly known as sextortion) are freely available on the internet, with criminals offering specialist, tailored classes for a fee.
Guides can be found on platforms such as TikTok, YouTube and Telegram.
In sextortion cases, teenagers are tricked online into sending intimate photographs of themselves to scammers who then demand money and threaten to share the material with others.
Adam Priestley, senior manager at the National Crime Agency (NCA), said: “There are written manuals and video guides, often titled ‘sextortion guides’, available on platforms such as TikTok and YouTube.
“The ones we have seen on YouTube offer a step-by-step tutorial on how to commit these blackmail crimes from start to finish, including creating fake online accounts, obtaining a text message number, tips on how to locate victims and how to profit from the crime.
“Criminals are advised to target secondary schools and are given instructions on how to threaten victims and the language to use. Sample tutorials are available for sale on the internet, offered as a ‘complete guide to blackmail’ at a cost of around 10,000 Nigerian naira (about £5).”
Separately, the Guardian has seen a written guide, more than 80 pages long, that was discovered by a cybersecurity firm and posted on a channel on the messaging app Telegram in February. The guide was shared with the NCA and removed by Telegram once the Guardian alerted it.
Designed as a manual and guide for perpetrators, it is a brutally comprehensive document written by an anonymous individual who claims to have been committing this crime for seven years and to have exploited 5,000 “successful targets” during that period.
The guide promises “valuable information and tools,” including tips on how to create fake profiles, differentiate between short- and long-term goals, access strangers’ social media accounts and create an initial connection and then manipulate and coerce victims into sending explicit content.
The author claims that the top three countries where online extortion is successfully carried out are the UK, the US and Canada. He advises the reader to focus on teenagers and young adults, and suggests that they can expect to receive explicit sexual content “from at least 5 to 10 of the 200 targets”.
The guide explains how the practice has pivoted to different platforms after some social media groups became more aware of the threat — for example, it warns that “exposing your target on Instagram is virtually impossible now” following recent updates to the site.
This guide also offers readers access to the specific extortion scripts used by the perpetrator for $50, and three months of personalized advice for $250. Security experts have discovered evidence of at least 276 financial transactions with the perpetrator, indicating that there are people who purchase these services.
The guide highlights the extent to which this crime has become professionalised and emphasises the potential that exists to turn it into a profitable business.
A YouTube spokesperson said: “We take this matter very seriously and have strict policies in place to protect our users from scams and other harmful behaviour. Content that provides instructions for activities like phishing and cryptophishing is not allowed on YouTube and will be removed.”
TikTok said the platform proactively detected and removed content of this nature, including through investigations by its moderation teams. Regarding the so-called “Yahoo Boys”: cybercriminals based in Nigeria – TikTok said it had turned to local moderation experts to inform its enforcement strategy.
A Telegram spokesperson said: “Sextortion is explicitly prohibited on the Telegram platform. Moderators proactively monitor public parts of the platform and accept user reports to remove content that violates Telegram’s terms of service.”
