MADISON, Wis. — College athletes are facing heightened risk from financially motivated sextortion as their public profiles and earnings attract online criminals, federal investigators warn. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received 50,000 complaints involving financially motivated sextortion last year. Experts say the actual number of cases is likely higher because victims may be reluctant to report what happened. Sextortion involves using explicit photos or videos—or threatening to release them—to pressure someone into sending money. The crime can begin through social media, where a criminal identifies a target, gains access to personal information and then makes demands. FBI Supervisory Special Agent Nick Pottratz said college athletes may be especially vulnerable as more money enters college sports and athletes build larger audiences online. Three factors can increase the risk, investigators say: extensive exposure on social media and television, publicly available information about athletes’ earnings, and artificial intelligence tools that can create realistic manipulated images. “With these young athletes having the social media presence that they have, we anticipate that they’re going to be targeted,” Pottratz said. Public accounts can help scammers identify potential victims and estimate whether they might be able to pay. Artificial intelligence can also be used to alter a person’s likeness, creating images that appear authentic. Pottratz said AI-generated images are generally part of broader investigations rather than the sole evidence in a case. “Generally speaking, where you find AI photos, you find real photos,” he said. “We don’t usually go after somebody just because of AI. AI is usually a component of what we’re going to find.” Wisconsin law treats sextortion as a serious crime. When a victim dies by suicide as a result of the offense, perpetrators can face as much as 60 years in prison. The warning comes as Wisconsin officials report rising sextortion cases involving young people, underscoring how online abuse can exploit both personal privacy and the expanding financial stakes around college athletics.