Bradyn Bohn was a 15-year-old freshman in the DC Everest School District in central Wisconsin. He loved sports, music, and making people laugh. Like most teens, he spent a lot of time online. One night in early March of this year, he met someone on Facebook who was fun and cute. While the details are unclear, one thing led to another, and he shared an intimate photo. The conversation immediately changed, and the new “friend” demanded money, otherwise the images would be shared with Bradyn’s friends and family. Mortified, he relented and sent $300 via a cash app, but the emotional and psychological cruelty only intensified. After hours of virtual torture, Bradyn died by suicide. He left a note which read, “Make sure he gets caught. I’m so sorry.”
He was the target of sextortion.
What is Sextortion?
We define sextortion as “the threatened dissemination of explicit, intimate, or embarrassing images of a sexual nature without consent, usually for the purpose of procuring additional images, sexual acts, money, or something else.” It is also commonly referred to as sexual extortion or sexploitation. We’ve also previously discussed how it can manifest as digital dating violence when a current or former romantic partner desires sexual acts or to stay or get back together:
“My ex boyfriend threatened to send my pics to my whole family if I didn’t get back with him and he did it anyways.” (16-year-old girl from Mississippi)
Or, it could be a coordinated effort from an international financial extortion group that preys on the young and sexually curious:
“I had been chatting with someone on Instagram who appeared to be a friendly and flirtatious peer. Over time, the conversation turned more personal, and at one point, I was pressured into sharing a private image. Soon after he threatened to share the image publicly unless I sent more photos or money. It made me feel shame and fear, I then told my parents, they handled the situation.” (17-year-old girl from Texas)
Bad actors typically create fake Facebook, Instagram, or Snapchat profiles of attractive teens using stolen or AI-generated images to lure young boys and girls into conversations, ultimately tricking them into sharing explicit photos of themselves (often on a different, encrypted platform). Once the photos are received, threats of dissemination are made if money is not sent.
Many of these incidents occur in the middle of the night when children are particularly vulnerable to making bad decisions in a cloud of physical and mental fatigue. I regularly tell parents that “nothing good happens online after 10:00pm.” And while perpetrators have historically spent weeks or months grooming a child sexual abuse victim, sextortion can happen over the course of just a few hours when interacting online.
The Extent of Sextortion Among Youth
Our research has demonstrated a troubling increase in sextortion behaviors over the last decade. We first surveyed youth about their experiences with sextortion in 2016. At that time, 5% of the approximately 5,000 12- to 17-year-olds in the U.S. who we surveyed had experienced it. We replicated this survey in 2019 and found that 5.3% of this population had been targeted. In May of this year, we surveyed 3,500 13- to 17-year-olds and found that 15.4% had been the victim of sextortion.
We also identified a significant increase in incidents where the aggressor demanded money or gift cards (from 29% of the time in 2019 to 45% of the time in 2025), which suggests that at least some of the increase in these behaviors may be attributed to an increase in financial sexual extortion from international scammers.
Our data align with other sources, which reveal a dramatic escalation in sextortion over the last 5 years. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children noted a 300% increase in reports of child enticement between 2021 and 2023 to the CyberTipline. In addition, a recent Thorn report found that about 21% of teens (aged 13 to 17) had personally experienced sexual extortion in 2024. “These latest numbers point to increasing risks of sexual extortion stemming from online-only interactions and an expanding set of motivations driving bad actors.”
Law enforcement agencies have also reported an increase in sextortion incidents, especially financially motivated scams. Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul noted: “One of the more significant threats to children online comes in the form of sextortion.” The Wisconsin Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force has received approximately 400 CyberTips reports of sextortion as of September of this year. This is up from 230 for the whole year in 2024 (and 170 in 2023).
Wisconsin’s New Sextortion Law
“Bradyn’s Law” was signed by Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers on December 8th. The law establishes the crime of “sexual extortion” and provides severe penalties for anyone who:
“threatens to distribute an intimate representation of another person with the intent to coerce that person to engage in sexual conduct, to produce another intimate representation of that person, to provide the payment of money, property, services, or any other thing of value to the actor.”
If the violation results in the death of the victim, it becomes a Class B felony, which could result in up to 60 years in prison.
These new penalties are only useful, however, if they can be enforced. While we don’t know much about the details of Bradyn’s experience, many teens fall victim to aggressors from other countries. Is the state of Wisconsin prepared to track offenders down from halfway across the globe to bring them to justice? In a rare example, federal prosecutors in Michigan did just that. Seventeen-year-old Jordan DeMay died by suicide in March of 2022 after being targeted for sextortion by two Nigerian brothers. Federal authorities sought extradition to the United States. They ultimately pled guilty and were sentenced to 210 months in U.S. federal prison. U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan, Mark Totten, remarked “We will track you down and hold you accountable…. The day when you could commit these crimes, rake in easy cash, destroy lives, and escape justice is gone.” Are state-level law enforcement officers willing to do the same? What is really needed is a broad federal law, since most of these incidents transcend state or national borders.
Increased punishment is only one piece of a comprehensive approach to sextortion prevention and response. Child pornography laws need to be modified to protect minors from their developmentally normative mistakes. It’s natural for adolescents to be curious about their sexuality and to want to explore that interest with others with whom they are attracted. Unfortunately, most states do not have specific sexting laws that acknowledge the messy nature of these behaviors and include provisions for educational responses. Instead, youth are threatened by the prospects of significant punishment and being labeled a sex offender for participating in sexting. As such, adolescents are particularly susceptible to scammers who prey on the fear they have of being outed for their behaviors.
Moreover, sextortion legislation should provide resources for communities to educate youth and their caregivers about the issues. This could include funding to develop, distribute, and evaluate resources for schools, youth, and families. It could also involve hiring and training additional law enforcement personnel to specifically investigate sextortion reports.
Final Thoughts
Sextortion is a growing problem that needs to be addressed head-on. Parents need to talk with their children about their online experiences and cultivate the kind of relationship that opens up a line of communication should things turn scary. We want them to turn to caregivers or other adults they trust if these incidents arise, instead of believing they have no other options. We also need to hold offenders accountable. Bradyn’s Law is a step in the right direction, but it falls short of a comprehensive approach to address the problem from multiple fronts. To effectively curtail sextortion, it will take a coordinated community response involving measures from families, schools, law enforcement, technology companies, and others. Working together, we can protect children from sexual extortion online and prevent the worst harms if they are targeted.
If you or someone you know is considering suicide, call or text the three-digit suicide and crisis lifeline at 988. Resources are available online here.
Photo by Ethan Garvey on Unsplash
The post Bradyn’s Law: Wisconsin’s Effort to Combat a Rise in Youth Sextortion appeared first on Cyberbullying Research Center.