Online blackmail is hitting UK families harder than many realize, with one in 10 kids now targeted and parents struggling to keep up. As cases climb, confidence in tech companies is slipping.
A new report from the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) shows parents feel ill-equipped to handle a surge in online blackmail against kids, citing major knowledge gaps, infrequent family conversations about the threat, and growing frustration with platforms they say aren’t doing enough.
The charity based its findings on a survey of more than 2,500 parents across the UK.
The missing part
Parents may recognize the threat, but 29% admit they know nothing about the tactics offenders rely on, including AI-generated deepfakes that no longer require a child to share anything first.
Blackmailers are also moving kids into encrypted chats, a shift the NSPCC warns makes detection far harder and gives offenders more room to operate unnoticed.
And while many parents picture anonymous adults, 24% don’t realize blackmail can come from peers, such as classmates, friends, or even someone their child sees every day, leaving some of the most common scenarios overlooked.
What children hear about online blackmail
Schools are the top source of information for many families, but that drops off fast as kids get older. By the teen years, 53% of parents say social media — not teachers or home — is where their children learn about online blackmail.
And for some kids, there’s nothing coming through at all. Parents believe one in ten children may not be learning about blackmail from any source, leaving them exposed to tactics they don’t know how to recognize.
It’s why families want lessons to start earlier. Nearly half say the right age is eight to 11, and another 37% want schools and parents to begin even sooner, before children hit the platforms where blackmailers operate.
Platforms still aren’t built for child safety
One in three parents says tech companies aren’t doing enough to stop online blackmail, while offenders continue operating freely across major apps. The NSPCC says firms continue to “fall short in their duty to protect children,” a failure families say is visible in the basics.
Forty-four percent of parents want stronger default privacy controls for kids’ accounts, and 43% want platforms to actively scan for and remove blackmail attempts instead of waiting for a crisis report. For many families, the message is the same: the safeguards children need still aren’t the ones they get.
Support is needed
More than half of parents say they require clear, practical steps to follow if their child is targeted, and 51% want guidance on the emotional side of responding. Many say they’re unsure how to talk a child through the shock or fear that comes with a blackmail attempt.
The gaps come with real risks. Eleven percent of parents say they might message the blackmailer themselves, and 5% would consider following demands, a pattern that’s more common among those who have dealt with a case before.
Families are asking for a stronger safety net, including school-led guidance backed by immediate-access helplines that can walk them through what to do when a threat appears.
But many say support alone won’t fix the larger system their children move through online.
The NSPCC’s findings give them a voice, but they also hand responsibility to the platforms that set the rules of children’s online worlds. What happens next will show whether those rules can change fast enough. Families will be watching closely to see if those promises turn into real protection.
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