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The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has warned Nigerians about the rising threat of sextortion, an online blackmail scheme involving threats to release intimate images or videos unless victims meet the perpetrators’ demands.
NITDA issued the warning on Friday as part of activities marking Cybersecurity Awareness Month through its Computer Emergency Readiness and Response Team (CERRT).
According to the advisory, sextortion can affect children, teenagers and adults and often begins on social media platforms, messaging applications, dating platforms or online games.
The agency also warned that criminals can use artificial intelligence to create convincing fake explicit images without having an actual intimate image of the victim.
NITDA explains how sextortion happens
NITDA described sextortion as a form of online blackmail in which a perpetrator threatens to share a person’s intimate images or videos unless the victim pays money, sends additional images or complies with other demands.
The agency said that once a perpetrator obtains or creates an intimate image, complying with the demands may not end the threats.
Instead, perpetrators may continue demanding money or additional images, potentially exposing victims to emotional stress, reputational damage and financial losses.
NITDA said children and teenagers are especially vulnerable because fear and shame may prevent them from reporting the abuse to a trusted adult, potentially allowing the abuse to continue.
What NITDA advises victims and the public to do
NITDA advised Nigerians to avoid sending intimate images or videos online, even to people they know or trust, noting that it may not always be possible to verify who is behind an online account.
For people who are already being threatened, the agency advised against paying money or sending additional images, as complying with the perpetrator’s demands could lead to further demands.
NITDA also recommended that victims:
- Save evidence by taking screenshots of messages, usernames, payment requests and account details before blocking the perpetrator.
- Stop communicating with the perpetrator once the threat is identified.
- Report the account and offending content to the relevant platform.
- Report the crime to the Nigeria Police Force Cybercrime Unit.
Sextortion cases and the evolving threat
NITDA’s warning comes as sextortion continues to feature in cybercrime cases involving Nigerians, while artificial intelligence is adding new ways for perpetrators to create and distribute convincing material.
In August 2026, Nairametrics reported that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had facilitated the extradition of two Nigerians to the United States over allegations involving child exploitation and financially motivated sextortion.
The development followed an earlier FBI operation in which 22 Nigerian suspects were arrested in connection with financially motivated sextortion schemes targeting people in the United States.
Nairametrics reported in April 2025 that the FBI estimated that nearly $65 million had been lost to sextortion crimes allegedly linked to Nigerian nationals over two years. The agency also said it had recorded more than 54,000 victims in 2024, up from 34,000 in 2023.
The scale of the activity has also prompted action by social media platforms. In July 2024, Nairametrics reported that Meta had removed around 63,000 Instagram accounts in Nigeria that it said had attempted to engage in financial sextortion scams.
More recently, the use of artificial intelligence has added another dimension to the threat. Nairametrics reported in August 2026 that INTERPOL’s African Cyberthreat Assessment found AI was enabling 55% of reported cybercrimes across Africa, with digital sextortion and deepfake-based deception among the emerging threats. The assessment also recorded approximately 600,000 sextortion detections by TrendAI.
