FinCEN Notice on Financially Motivated Sextortion Schemes
On September 8th, FinCEN issued a Notice (FIN-2025-NTC2) on financially motivated sextortion schemes which was, at least in part, due to an almost 60% increase in financial losses from these types of crimes from 2023 to 2024.
In these schemes, perpetrators typically use fake or hijacked social media or gaming accounts to build connections with intended victims. They often pretend to be close to the victim’s age and, having researched what they can about the victim, ultimately ask for nude photos, videos or other sexually explicit material and possibly offer to exchange material with the victim. If the material is received, perpetrators threaten to publish it to the victim’s friends and family, often continuing to harass the victims for more and more money. Victims can be further victimized by scammers claiming to be “recovery experts”, attorneys, or even law enforcement officials who are working to bring the perpetrators to justice and recover the material. Even if a targeted victim does not send any sexually explicit material, generative AI tools allow perpetrators to manipulate other images provided or that they are able to access online.
Not only are sextortion schemes a “gross abuse” of our country’s financial system, the effects can also be especially tragic, as victims often turn to suicide. As such, FinCEN urges institutions to be on the lookout for anything indicative of this type of activity. The Notice provides details on red flag indicators for potential victimization as well as money mule activity.
Institutions filing SARs on such activity should include “FIN-2025-SEXTORTION” in the Filing Institution Note to FinCEN (SAR Field 2) as well as the narrative. As applicable, references to additional Advisories, Alerts or Notice keywords can be included in the narrative as well. Field 38(z) (Other) should be selected with the term “SEXTORTION” noted in the text box. If the subject’s IP address is known, it is to be entered in SAR Field 43.
Published
2025/09/24
Emily Riley
Emily joined Banker’s Compliance Consulting with past roles that include Compliance Officer, CRA Officer, Flood Specialist and head of the Mortgage Department at a community Bank. Though some may find it a bit mundane, Emily enjoys reading regulations – often in the middle of the night when the insomnia kicks in. Emily has a heart for compliance and loves to see others succeed. Emily and her husband have two children, two dogs, and two birds. Though Emily has numerous hobbies (some of which include motorcycles (Harley Davidson), piecing quilts, and reading) her favorite thing is to spend time with her husband, children, and family.