Red Barnet (Save the Children) has experienced a significant increase in inquiries from children and young people facing financial extortion on the internet, according to their latest annual report from the SletDet (Delete It) Counseling Service. This counseling department, which is part of Red Barnet, recorded a total of 1680 conversations with children and young people over the past year, spread across 1002 specific counseling processes. In comparison, there were around 870 counseling processes the year before. In 2023, a large portion of the conversations, 31 percent, have been about extortion and threats, where compromising images are often discovered by the extortionists pretending to be someone else on social media. Lene Stavngaard, who leads the SletDet Counseling Service, states that their first priority is to provide psychological first aid to the affected children and young people. “Most of them contact us in desperation, marked by shame, and we emphasize that it is futile to send money or further intimate material,” notes Stavngaard. “Instead, we encourage them to gather evidence such as screenshots of conversations or information about the extortionists.” Red Barnet also offers assistance with police reports and the removal of illegal content from social media. Data shows that primarily boys are being financially extorted with private images. Stavngaard highlights this concerning trend and adds: “We really want to limit this development.” Furthermore, it is mostly girls who are pressured to provide further intimate material, explains Stavngaard. The organization is working intensively to address these issues and underscores the importance of responding correctly to the frightening and acute situations many children and young people face.

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