PENNSYLVANIA, July 31 - WHEREAS, Teenage boys, 13 to 17 years of age, are most

frequently targeted; and

WHEREAS, Victims as young as 8 years of age have been

reported; and

WHEREAS, While boys comprise the majority of sextortion

victims, there has been a 2,600% increase in reports involving

girls; and

WHEREAS, The threat to children and teens is rapidly

expanding across all demographics; and

WHEREAS, Reports involving artificial intelligence (AI),

including deepfake images used for online abuse, grew by 1,325%

in 2024, with more than 67,000 incidents on record; and

WHEREAS, Predators increasingly use AI to impersonate victims

or to generate fake explicit images and fake job postings as

part of larger sextortion and trafficking schemes; and

WHEREAS, Affected children and teens may experience severe

psychological trauma; and

WHEREAS, Among young victims, one in seven reported self-harm

in response to sextortion attempts; and

WHEREAS, Approximately 81% of sextortion incidents occur

entirely online through social media and messaging platforms;

and

WHEREAS, Approximately 98% of sextortion incidents are never

reported to law enforcement; and

WHEREAS, While most platforms require users to be at least 13

years of age, nearly 40% of children 8 to 12 years of age are

already using social media; and

WHEREAS, Beyond this, 95% of teens 13 to 17 years of age are

using at least one social media platform; and

WHEREAS, These numbers highlight the growing exposure of

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