The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) has reported a dramatic rise in crimes targeting children online, including record increases in online enticement, child sex trafficking, and cases involving generative artificial intelligence (GAI).
For the first time, NCMEC has released mid-year data comparing 2024 to 2025, showing spikes in reports submitted to its CyberTipline, which serves as the national reporting mechanism for online child sexual exploitation. Between January and June, reports of online enticement jumped from 292,951 in 2024 to 518,720 in the same period in 2025, a 77 percent increase. Even more striking, reports involving GAI-related exploitation skyrocketed from 6,835 to 440,419, reflecting the growing misuse of AI to create explicit or fake sexual content involving children.
“These statistics are not just numbers – they represent children experiencing unthinkable harm,” said John Shehan, NCMEC’s senior vice president overseeing the Exploited Children Division. “We need parents, caregivers, educators and communities to stay alert and talk openly with children about online risks.”
The surge reflects how offenders are adapting to technology and using it to exploit minors across digital platforms. NCMEC reports that violent online groups are targeting children on gaming and messaging platforms such as Discord, Roblox, and other public channels, manipulating victims into self-harm and abuse that is live-streamed or recorded.
In one reported case, a young girl was coerced into cutting the perpetrator’s online username into her arm at the direction of a violent group. “Just the power they have over my daughter is mind blowing,” her mother told NCMEC.
Another disturbing trend is financial sextortion, a rapidly growing form of cybercrime in which offenders, typically motivated by money rather than sexual gratification, trick victims, often teenage boys, into sharing explicit images. They then threaten to release the content unless paid. Reports of financial sextortion climbed from 13,842 in the first half of 2024 to 23,593 in 2025 so far.
With the rise of generative AI, offenders no longer always need to coerce content directly. Many are now creating fake sexualized images – so-called “deepfakes” – using photos from children’s public social media or school websites. These fabricated images are then used for extortion or harassment. “NCMEC began tracking GAI in 2023, and the growth has been staggering,” Shehan said. “It’s important that we stay on top of these emerging threats.”
NCMEC notes that GAI tools are also being misused to simulate grooming conversations, create sexualized chats, or provide instructions for abusing children. In schools, “deepfake” nudes, sometimes shared as pranks, have caused serious harm to the reputations and mental health of students, particularly girls.
Meanwhile, child sex trafficking (CST) continues to evolve as offenders increasingly use online platforms to sell victims rather than operating on the streets. Reports of CST surged from 5,976 in early 2024 to 62,891 in the first half of 2025, the sharpest increase of any category tracked. NCMEC attributes much of this growth to new reporting requirements under the federal REPORT Act, which expanded mandatory reporting to include CST and online enticement.
As cyber-enabled exploitation continues to escalate, NCMEC is urging parents, educators, and technology platforms to remain vigilant, talk with children about digital safety, and report suspicious behavior to the CyberTipline at cybertipline.org.
(AI was used in part to facilitate this article.)
