Child Focus Belgium Reports 130 Percent Increase in Sextortion Cases, Launches Payboy Prevention Platform

Child Focus, part of the Belgian Safer Internet Centre, reported in November 2025 that it had opened more than 350 sextortion cases during the year, an alarming 130 percent increase compared to the previous year, with boys representing 93 percent of financial sextortion victims in Belgium. The organisation launched Payboy, an online platform designed to warn young people about sextortion through interactive content, videos, testimonials and prevention tips tailored to how young people consume information. European helpline data from March 2026 confirmed that Belgium continues to see a significant increase in sextortion and grooming cases, with Snapchat, TikTok, Instagram, Telegram and WhatsApp identified as the main platforms where this abuse is occurring. Financial sextortion represented 65 percent of cases, with 20 percent involving demands for additional content, and criminal gangs increasingly using artificial intelligence online to extort victims, making sextortion harder to detect.

Financial sextortion follows a rapid escalation pattern, often moving from initial contact to blackmail in under an hour, with offenders using scripted messages to target numerous children simultaneously. Guardii's anti-sextortion detection module, a core capability of a platform trusted by schools, safeguarding authorities and families, identifies the conversational signals that precede a sextortion demand—sudden requests for intimate images, threats tied to exposure or distribution, manipulation through flattery or coercion, and the shift from casual interaction to crisis. The system flags the conversation at the moment the pattern emerges, blocks the contact before the demand is issued, and surfaces the child to a parent or professional, enabling intervention before images are shared or payment is demanded. For financial sextortion targeting boys on Instagram, Snapchat and gaming platforms, detection at the point of contact can prevent the entire sequence from unfolding.