How to Use sextortion in a Sentence

sextortion

noun
  • There has been a huge spike in sextortion cases in recent years.
    — Matt Burgess, WIRED, 7 Sep. 2024
  • Of course, as with everything involved in this sextortion scam, that’s a lie.
    — Davey Winder, Forbes.com, 29 June 2025
  • In sextortion, scammers send a nude photo to a victim and ask for one in return.
    — Dave Lieber, Dallas News, 6 Sep. 2023
  • As the crime becomes more common, there is more help available to help victims of sextortion.
    — Audrey Conklin, Fox News, 15 Aug. 2024
  • More than a dozen sextortion victims were reported to have died by suicide.
    — Luke Barr, ABC News, 13 Aug. 2023
  • The features are aimed at stemming the tide of sextortion scams, the company writes in a blog post about the changes.
    — Wes Davis, The Verge, 26 June 2024
  • This new breed of sextortion also had a new primary target — boys.
    — Alison Cross, Hartford Courant, 2 July 2024
  • Over a dozen of the sextortion victims died by suicide, the FBI says.
    — Faith Karimi, CNN, 13 May 2023
  • Snap released new features last month intended to protect teen users from sextortion scams.
    — Gaby Del Valle, The Verge, 22 July 2024
  • Guffey says at least one or two families whose children have been victims of sextortion reach out to him daily.
    — Faith Karimi, CNN, 30 Jan. 2024
  • Nearly half of those who shared explicit pictures were met with sextortion attempts.
    — Sarah Maslin Nir, New York Times, 15 May 2024
  • Some teens fall for scams, including sextortion, but the vast majority don’t.
    — Larry Magid, The Mercury News, 20 June 2024
  • Meta declined to comment on the case, but pointed Forbes to its new protections against sextortion.
    — Thomas Brewster, Forbes, 17 Sep. 2024
  • In severe cases, sextortion has driven teens and children to suicide.
    — Rocio Fabbro, Quartz, 5 Sep. 2024
  • Once the predators receive even the very first nude images, the extortion — or sextortion — begins.
    — Taylor Hartz, Hartford Courant, 3 Oct. 2022
  • Those barriers are designed to help reduce sextortion, Thorn said.
    — Nicole Valdes, CBS News, 31 May 2025
  • Instagram will test a new feature that blurs nudity in messages in an effort to curb sextortion on its platform.
    — Elizabeth Robinson, NBC News, 12 Apr. 2024
  • The video, according to Davis, will tell viewers what sextortion is, how to spot it and how to seek support if they are targeted.
    — Angela Yang, NBC News, 17 Oct. 2024
  • The panelists shared how the crime was primarily affecting teenage boys and that the sextortion was occurring across all walks of life.
    — Caleb Lunetta, San Diego Union-Tribune, 6 Mar. 2023
  • The incidents, which are called sextortion, more than doubled during the pandemic.
    — Tripp Mickle, New York Times, 10 Aug. 2023
  • The Connecticut case involved sextortion of an 11-year-old girl, police said.
    — Joseph Wilkinson, New York Daily News, 19 Mar. 2025
  • Mason says the approach has been utilized in sextortion scams, which commonly target teenagers and have been linked to a series of suicides.
    — Matt Burgess, WIRED, 27 Jan. 2025
  • But, the explicit pictures do not need to be taken by the child to qualify as sextortion, Burnett said.
    — Megan Forrester, ABC News, 12 Mar. 2025
  • The most common victims of financial sextortion are teen boys ages 13-17.
    — Rachel Hale, USA TODAY, 25 Feb. 2025
  • The report also identified Nigeria as one of the countries most often tied to sextortion schemes.
    — Thao Nguyen, USA TODAY, 6 Sep. 2024
  • Yet there's little-more devious than the increase in sextortion cases linked to the West African scammers.
    — Matt Burgess, WIRED, 7 Sep. 2024
  • Abuse of the app by predators fits in with what authorities and experts say is a broader rise in sextortion schemes targeting minors online.
    — Khadijah Khogeer, NBC News, 19 July 2023
  • Determined to prevent other kids from falling prey to sextortion, Brandon has turned his grief and pain into action.
    — Kc Baker, Peoplemag, 29 Mar. 2023
  • Stuart's son, Ryan Last, died by suicide hours after a sextortion scheme was threatened against him in 2022.
    — Scott MacFarlane, CBS News, 15 June 2025
  • More than a dozen sextortion victims were reported to have died by suicide, according to the Department of Justice.
    — Luke Barr, ABC News, 3 May 2023

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'sextortion.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Last Updated: