FBI warns of sexual exploitation actors targeting social media accounts

The FBI alerts to criminal actors using social engineering, phishing, and credential attacks to compromise social media and personal accounts to steal and sell non-consensual intimate images on criminal marketplaces.

The FBI has issued a public service announcement warning of widespread sexual exploitation activity targeting both adults and minors. Criminal actors are systematically compromising social media and personal accounts through multiple attack vectors including password spraying using leaked credential lists, social media customer service impersonation via SMS, and phishing emails with malicious links impersonating legitimate platforms. Once accounts are compromised, actors steal explicit content and personally identifiable information, then distribute or sell the material on criminal marketplaces alongside victim names, dates of birth, email addresses, and social media usernames. Victims face secondary victimization through harassment, sextortion, stalking, and content re-posting on their own compromised accounts.

The attack chain relies heavily on social engineering and credential compromise rather than technical exploits. Actors use curated lists of personal information from data breaches and open sources to increase success rates on credential attacks. The widespread availability of breached credentials and the effectiveness of impersonation tactics make this a high-volume threat affecting a broad population. The FBI indicates this activity is ongoing and prevalent enough to warrant a formal public advisory.

Source reporting: https://www.ic3.gov/PSA/2026/PSA260810