Madison police had opened 96 Internet Crimes Against Children cases from January through the second week of September, as detectives report a rise in sextortion and grooming targeting young people online. The cases are handled by a specialized task force within the Police Department’s Special Victims Unit. Lt. Justine Harris, who leads the unit and task force, said offenders increasingly use social media and other platforms to quickly persuade teens to send sexual images, then threaten to share them with the teen’s contacts unless they pay. “We’re seeing much more of that high pressure, very quick” approach with 14- to 16-year-olds, Harris said. Sextortion occurs when someone threatens to distribute real or fabricated sexually explicit material unless a demand is met. Wisconsin made sextortion a felony at the end of 2025 under Bradyn’s Law, named for Bradyn Bohn, a 15-year-old from the Wausau area who died by suicide after being sextorted. A conviction can carry a maximum 60-year prison sentence. Grooming — building trust with a child through boundary-crossing behavior to facilitate sexual exploitation — also became a felony under state law in 2026, with a maximum 25-year sentence. Statewide, sextortion tips sent to the Wisconsin Department of Justice for review through a national reporting system rose from 230 in 2024 to 650 in 2025, nearly tripling. The department reviews tips before forwarding viable ones to local agencies. Madison detectives Blake and Brad Ware said about 90% of the cases they open originate with the CyberTipline, operated by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. The rest come from local reports, including 911 calls. The department opened 109 cases last year after receiving 152 CyberTipline tips; multiple tips can be associated with a single case, and investigations may take time to develop. The scheme can begin with a stranger posing as a potential romantic interest or a peer. Fake profiles and friend requests to people in a child’s network can make an offender appear to have mutual friends, police said. Investigators also encounter cases involving manipulated or AI-generated images, which can be used to threaten a young person even if they never sent an intimate image. In one case, a Madison-area high school student told police that an email threatened to publish fabricated nude images made by editing her social-media photos onto images of another minor. She did not pay and reported the threat. A search warrant identified an IP address associated with Nigeria, said Detective Sgt. Mark Hull. Police said such cases have been rare locally. Harris said detectives’ first concern is often the targeted child’s immediate well-being. “There is potential for the child to be in a state of crisis,” she said, adding that officers contact children and families to check on their safety. Investigations can involve records from social media, messaging services, games and other online platforms. Federal law requires electronic service providers to report suspected child sexual abuse material to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children; reporting requirements were expanded in 2024 to include potential evidence of child sex trafficking, enticement and sextortion. Madison police said they commonly receive reports from Google, Meta, Snapchat, Discord and Roblox. The work can be complicated by delayed or incomplete reports, overseas suspects and large volumes of digital evidence. Detectives said some seized devices contain more data than the department can efficiently process, requiring help from state analysts. They also said it can be difficult to get useful follow-up information from large technology companies. Police advise families to report sextortion to local law enforcement or the CyberTipline and preserve messages, usernames and other evidence. Detective Blake urged teens to be cautious about connecting online with people they do not know in real life, saying it can be difficult to verify who is behind an account.