One in 10 UK parents say their child has been blackmailed online, NSPCC finds
Nearly one in 10 UK parents say their child has been blackmailed online, with harms ranging from threatening to release intimate pictures to revealing details about someone’s personal life,The NSPCC child protection charity also found that one in five parents know a child who has experienced online blackmail, while two in five said they rarely or never talked to their children about the subject,The National Crime Agency has said that it is receiving more than 110 reports a month of child sextortion attempts, where criminal gangs trick teenagers into sending intimate pictures of themselves and then blackmail them,Agencies across the UK, US and Australia have confirmed a rising number of sextortion cases involving teenage boys and young adult males being targeted by cyber-criminal gangs based in west Africa or south-east Asia, some of which have ended in tragedy,Murray Dowey, a 16-year-old from Dunblane, Scotland, killed himself in 2023 after becoming a victim of sextortion on Instagram and Dinal De Alwis, 16, killed himself in Sutton, south London, in October 2022 after being blackmailed over nude photographs.
The NSPCC based its findings on a survey of more than 2,500 parents and said that tech companies were continuing to “fall short in their duty to protect children”.Rani Govender, a policy manager at NSPCC, said: “Children deserve to be safe online, and that must be built into the very fabric of these platforms, not bolted on after harm has already been done.”The NSPCC’s definitions of blackmail included threatening to release an intimate image or video of the child, or something the victim wanted to keep private, such as their sexuality.The information could have been obtained consensually or it could have been obtained by coercion, manipulation or created using artificial intelligence.Perpetrators can be strangers, such as sextortion gangs, or someone the child knows, such as a friend or schoolmate.
The blackmailer can also demand a range of things in exchange for not sharing information, such as money, more images or staying in a relationship.The NSPCC said its definition of blackmail overlapped with sextortion but included a wider range of scenarios.“We chose the term ‘blackmail’ in our research because it allowed us to include extortion using other types of information that a child might want to keep private (eg their sexuality, images showing them without a religious garment) as well as a range of both sexual and non-sexual demands and threats,” the charity said.The report also advised against “sharenting”, which refers to parents sharing photos of and information about their children online.Experts recommend telling children what a sextortion threat looks like and being aware of who they are talking to online.
They also advise creating everyday opportunities for children to talk to adults, such as during meals together or regular car trips, so that teenagers feel they have a space where they can reveal they have been targeted by blackmail.“Knowing how to talk about online blackmail in an age-appropriate way and creating an environment where children feel safe to come forward without fear of judgment can make all the difference,” said Govender.The NSPCC also interviewed young people about why they might choose not to reveal a blackmail attempt to their parent or carer.The reasons for not disclosing the crime, according to the responses, include feeling embarrassed, preferring to talk to a friend first and feeling they “can handle it themselves”.
Chess: Sindarov, 19, becomes youngest World Cup winner as London Classic begins
Javokhir Sindarov, 19, became the youngest ever winner of the Fide knockout World Cup on Wednesday when the Uzbek defeated China’s Wei Yi 2.5-1.5 in the final at Goa. Ukraine’s Ruslan Ponomariov had been a year younger in 2002, but that World Cup had also doubled as the Fide world championship in a period when the global title was disputed.Wei was the favourite, but handicapped himself by poor time management in the decisive game
Iga Swiatek: ‘I didn’t want to give any points for free – it’s a Wimbledon final and I wanted to win’
SW19 champion baffled by post-match suggestions she should have let Amanda Anisimova win one game in grand slam final as she turns focus to Australian Open in 2026In the coming months, if and when her schedule allows, Iga Swiatek will make a pilgrimage to London and the All England Club, the scene of her biggest and, she admits, most surprising triumph. In July, the 24-year-old won her first Wimbledon title and sixth grand slam title in all, crushing a hapless Amanda Anisimova 6-0, 6-0 in the final.It was the undoubted highlight of an up-and-down year for the Pole, who struggled on her best surface of clay but who will end 2025 ranked No 2, her fourth year in a row finishing inside the world’s top two.It is a quirk unique to Wimbledon that the singles’ champions are given honorary membership to the All England Club, granting them access any time they choose. Like many before her, Swiatek is keen to experience the sport’s most storied venue when fans and her fellow players are not around
Green days: Ben Ainslie’s new team lead the way on and out of the water | Emma John
British sailors have always been a belligerent bunch. Francis Drake, Lord Nelson, Admiral Cunningham … and, of course, Sir Ben Ainslie. The most successful Olympian in sailing’s history is also the sport’s equivalent of The Hulk: you really don’t want to make him angry.So perhaps it’s a good thing that there has been plenty to annoy him this year, not least that acrimonious split from his America’s Cup team owner, Sir Jim Ratcliffe. In true Ainslie style, it only seems to have made him more dangerous
NFL on Thanksgiving: Cowboys 31-28 Chiefs, Lions 24-31 Packers – as it happened
Is Kansas City’s season over? Not quite but one more loss now and that will be close to curtains for the Chiefs. Meanwhile Dak Prescott has just thrown for 328 yards and two touchdowns with a pick for a third win in succession. The Cowboys are right on the bubble now after looking totally cooked earlier in the season.Right, thanks very much if you have joined for the action today. Goodnight!Cowboys 31-28 Chiefs 2:00, 4th quarterThe two-minute warning has sounded
Fuzzy Zoeller, two-time major winner haunted by racist Tiger Woods joke, dies aged 74
Fuzzy Zoeller, the two-time major champion whose genial public persona was overshadowed by a racially insensitive joke about Tiger Woods that came to define the latter part of his career, has died aged 74.No cause of death was immediately available. Brian Naugle, tournament director of the Insperity Invitational in Houston and a longtime colleague, said Zoeller’s daughter notified him of the death on Thursday.Zoeller, born Frank Urban Zoeller Jr in New Albany, Indiana, was one of golf’s most outgoing characters across a career that delivered historic highs. He was the first player in more than four decades to win the Masters on his debut, claiming the 1979 green jacket after a three-man playoff
Cricket nerds love precedent so maybe England can channel spirit of Lord’s 2005
The parallels are imperfect but, as with Michael Vaughan’s Ashes winners, hyper-aggressive cricket with a tweaked approach in the second Test is the 2025 cohort’s only chance of winningTwenty years on, a montage of the 2005 Ashes still tingles the spine. Close your eyes and you can probably make your own, with an Embrace soundtrack if you want to be right on the nose. Chances are you’ll see Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff belting sixes with lusty abandon; Geraint Jones wheeling away after winning the epic Edgbaston Test; Ashley Giles calmly patting the winning runs at Trent Bridge; Flintoff’s messianic dismissal of Ricky Ponting at Edgbaston; Simon Jones detonating Michael Clarke’s off stump at Old Trafford.All those moments came in England victories or winning draws. But no 2005 montage is complete without images of Ponting being cut below the eye or Justin Langer’s right elbow ballooning in real time
OBR challenges claims Reeves dropped income tax rise due to rosier forecasts
Germany to urge EU to soften 2035 ban on sale of new petrol and diesel cars
One in 10 UK parents say their child has been blackmailed online, NSPCC finds
Small changes to ‘for you’ feed on X can rapidly increase political polarisation
From value-adds to networking superconductor: how the weird language of tech dulled sport | Aaron Timms
Cummins out of Australia Ashes squad as Khawaja lays into state of Perth pitch