West Virginia State Police are seeing a sharp rise in cases where kids are targeted and threatened online, and the head of the agency's child exploitation unit laid out the numbers for lawmakers Tuesday.
Sgt. Rachel Blankenship, director of the West Virginia State Police Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, told the Legislature's Joint Standing Committee on the Judiciary that financial sextortion cases in West Virginia have nearly tripled. Nationally, she said, sexual and financial sextortion cases have jumped about 3,100% over the past five years.
In financial sextortion, someone tricks or pressures a young person into sending a private image and then demands money, threatening to share it with friends and family if the child does not pay.
Blankenship also warned lawmakers about a darker trend that does not involve money at all. In those cases, groups target kids online, collect private pictures or personal details, and then use that material to pressure them into hurting themselves or others, including self-harm, animal cruelty, arson and even suicide. She said the people behind it are not always adults. More and more, juveniles are targeting other juveniles.
Some of the activity starts overseas, and investigators are working with the FBI and major tech companies, including Meta, to track down offenders.
The caseload is growing fast. So far in 2026, the task force has received nearly 2,300 cyber tips through the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, plus more than 1,700 referrals screened out by Child Protective Services, compared with 1,382 CPS referrals in all of 2025.
The task force is also trying to get ahead of the problem by speaking to students, parents and teachers about the warning signs. The testimony comes as Attorney General JB McCuskey's office has sued Snapchat in Kanawha County Circuit Court, accusing the platform of failing to protect kids from online exploitation, and as the family of Bryce Tate pushes its Shield Initiative to teach online safety in schools.
What parents can do
Experts say the most important message for kids is that they are not in trouble and they are not alone. If a child is being threatened, do not pay and do not keep responding. Save the messages and usernames, block the account, and report it.
Reports can be made to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children's CyberTipline at CyberTipline.org or 1-800-843-5678, and to local police or the West Virginia State Police. NCMEC's free Take It Down service at takeitdown.ncmec.org can help remove images of minors from participating platforms.
If a child is in immediate danger, call 911. A young person who is struggling can call or text 988 at any time.