One in six young Danes report experiencing sextortion, new survey finds

A new survey by Epinion for Danish broadcaster DR reveals that one in six people aged 15 to 31 have been victims of sextortion, where perpetrators threaten to share intimate images unless demands for money or additional material are met.

Despite the scale of the problem, many victims do not report the crime to police, according to the findings. Nearly 40% of young respondents admitted to having shared intimate images of themselves, a practice experts describe as a normalized part of digital life for many.

Ask Hesby Holm, director of *Digitalt Ansvar* (Digital Responsibility), called the prevalence of sextortion “shockingly frightening,” noting its evolution from isolated incidents to a highly organized form of crime. “There are perpetrators for whom this is a job—because there’s money in it,” he said.

Advocate Miriam Michaelsen, who specializes in digital violations, emphasized the psychological toll on victims, many of whom fear escalation if they resist or report the blackmail. “It becomes a form of psychological violence,” she said. “They dare not block or report the perpetrator because they don’t know what might happen next.”

Police data shows a 430% increase in sextortion reports since 2019, with 2,078 cases filed last year. Yet only 2% of cases between 2019 and 2025 have resulted in convictions, while 79% were dropped—often because perpetrators operate from abroad, complicating investigations, according to Andreas Mollerup of the National Center for IT Crime.

Michaelsen warned that underreporting allows perpetrators to target new victims, while Holm urged tech companies to take greater responsibility for platform design that enables such abuse.