Cyber-gang 'demand £250k ransom from school' - threatening to release AI porn of pupils if it didn't pay
An all-girls school in the north of England has been targeted by criminals who used AI to turn photos featuring dozens of pupils posted online into child sexual abuse material, LBC has been told.
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We understand the blackmailers downloaded - or “scraped” - images of 30 girls from the school’s website, before altering them digitally, and issuing staff with a “£250,000 bitcoin demand."
“Thankfully they reported it to police,” said Simon Bailey, former National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for child protection.
He said that was “undoubtedly” the best course of action staff could have taken, and indicated that the ransom wasn’t paid.
Bailey, who was the Chief Constable of Norfolk Constabulary for eight years, said “all schools” are now dealing with the risks associated with posting photos of pupils online, adding that it’s “very, very difficult, if not impossible, to put a number” on the prevalence of such cases.
“I've spoken to numerous heads about cases like this and they are all aware of it,” he said.
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“They find themselves in a very, very difficult situation. And the numbers, I really don't think that we understand and know the true scale of what is taking place.”
He described a “nightmare scenario” in which staff might receive a ransom request by criminals threatening to release digitally altered photos of children: “[Headteachers are] then facing [question] of what do I now do with this demand? How do I now engage with the parents of the children? Do we tell the pupils themselves and the horrors of the challenges that... brings with it?”
In the face of these “relatively new phenomena,” Bailey said there are steps staff can take to protect children online, including using AI “for good” to alter images of pupils before they are posted to the school website, or using photos where their faces aren’t visible.
It comes as the National Crime Agency (NCA) today issues a dire warning that online child sexual abuse is “no longer just about producing or sharing imagery – it is increasingly driven by profit.”
New analysis by specialist undercover officers at the agency has highlighted a vast global ecosystem where offenders exploit online platforms and payment systems to identify victims, groom children and profit from abuse.
Estimates suggest that more than 300 million children worldwide – 1 in 8 – are affected by online sexual exploitation and abuse each year.
According to Bailey, tech companies are best positioned to crack down on this “growing global crisis.”
“[They] don't have the silver bullet. They can't completely resolve it. But the tech companies, I believe, can do more than anybody else to prevent crimes,” he said.
“[They] put profit before child protection and they don't live up to their social and their moral responsibilities,” he added. “And for the first time ever, from my perspective, probably in the last 12 years, there is now a very high profile debate, public debate taking place, around what children should be being exposed to and what they shouldn't be being exposed to in the online space, what children should be able to access and not be able to access.”
According to the NCA, the features that cause the most risk are commonly found across a range of well-known messaging, social media, gaming and AI platforms, and include:
Mass discoverability of children - where children can be easily found or suggested to large numbers of unknown users, allowing offenders to identify and target victims at scale.
Unrestricted contact from unknown adults - where any adult can message a child directly, creating the entry point for grooming and exploitation.
Private or encrypted messaging – used by offenders to move conversations away from the original service into private chats – often on messaging apps – where no one else can see what is happening, and abuse can escalate undetected.
Algorithmic recommendations that promote harmful content or contacts - where systems suggest accounts, videos or communities that expose children to violent or sexual content or individuals seeking to harm them.
Nude image sharing or streaming - where children can be coerced into producing or sharing sexual content, often in real time which can then be used for blackmail or further abuse.
Weak age assurance - where children can easily access adult environments, and adults can misrepresent their age, undermining all other safeguards.
Last week, the UK government’s consultation on social media harms affecting children closed, after receiving more than 81,000 responses.
And bereaved families whose loved ones died as a result of online dangers met with the Prime Minister at Downing Street, with many pushing for a social media ban for under-16s.
Sir Keir Starmer pledged ministers will now take swift action: “I’ll be really clear, the question now is not whether we do something, we are going to act.
“I’m absolutely clear that this needs to be something where there’s a game-changer.”
He continued: “The question is only what we do, and that will be coming very quickly, because we took powers earlier this year to make sure we can act very, very quickly.”