The National Crime Agency’s CEOP Education team has launched a new educational resource, Online Blackmail, for pupils aged 12–14. The resource features a set of three lesson plans and two situational films which aim to help young people develop their understanding of two types of online blackmail:

• Financially Motivated Sexual Extortion (FMSE) where an offender manipulates and coerces a young person into sharing nude or semi-nude images and/or videos and threatens to release them publicly unless a financial demand is met
• Blackmail for further images (BFFI) where an offender grooms, manipulates and coerces a young person into sharing nude or semi-nude images and/or videos and then threaten to release them publicly unless they send more, and often increasingly extreme content

Online Blackmail is designed to be delivered through structured lessons in education settings. It links to relevant curricula across the four UK nations and aims to support education professionals in delivering effective Relationships and Sex Education.

The resource has been piloted with children, young people and education professionals and has been awarded the PSHE Association Quality Mark, demonstrating that it supports safe and effective teaching practice.