Two hundred and five child victims were rescued. Two hundred and ninety-three child sex predators arrested. This happened in just two weeks.
Operation Relentless Justice, announced December 19, is what coordinated federal law enforcement looks like when the government decides to prioritize child protection. All 56 FBI field offices. The Department of Justice’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section. U.S. Attorneys across the country. Everyone works simultaneously to identify, track, and arrest child predators.
The results are staggering. And the crimes they stopped are worse than most people understand.
What These Predators Actually Did
The operation didn’t just arrest random people. It arrested predators engaged in specific, devastating crimes.
An airman stationed in Dallas, Texas was arrested with his wife for producing child sexual abuse material—manufacturing it, filming it, distributing it.
A police officer in Raleigh, North Carolina was distributing child sexual abuse material to undercover officers while actively discussing his desire to engage in sexual contact with children.
A Guatemalan national previously deported in 2011 was arrested for enticement of a minor—he was targeting children online to exploit.
Five leaders of “Greggy’s Cult”—an organized online exploitation network—were arrested in the same operation.
A Virginia man was arrested for persuading a 14-year-old to produce sexually explicit imagery. After she complied, he told her to kill herself. She attempted suicide. Law enforcement caught him before he could continue the abuse.
These aren’t theoretical crimes. These are real predators committing real violence against real children.
Why Operation Relentless Justice Matters
This operation is part of a broader pattern. The Justice Department has launched three major coordinated crackdowns in 2025:
Operation Restore Justice (May): 115 children rescued, 205 predators arrested.
Operation Enduring Justice (August): 133 children rescued, 234 predators arrested.
Operation Relentless Justice (December): 205 children rescued, 293 predators arrested.
That’s over 450 children rescued in eight months. Over 700 predators were arrested. That’s coordination at scale.
“We will not allow evil criminals who prey on children to evade justice,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “Our federal agents have worked tirelessly alongside our state and local partners to track down these vile predators, and now our prosecutors will ensure they receive severe punishments to match their horrific crimes.”
The message is clear: predators targeting children will be hunted, arrested, and prosecuted federally.
The Sextortion Crisis: The Crime Most Parents Don’t Know About
What’s most alarming about Operation Relentless Justice is the emphasis on sextortion cases—a crime exploding across America that most parents don’t even know exists.
Sextortion is straightforward in concept but devastating in impact: A predator targets a child online. They pose as a peer. They build trust. They trick or pressure the child into sharing sexually explicit images. Then they threaten to share those images with the child’s friends, family, and classmates unless the child sends more explicit content, performs sexual acts, or pays money.
The numbers are terrifying.
In the first six months of 2025, online enticement reports to authorities jumped dramatically. Financial sextortion reports surged significantly compared to the same period in 2024.
One in five teens reported being a victim of sextortion according to recent reports by child safety experts.
One in five. Not one in a hundred. One in five teens has experienced sextortion.
And some of those victims have killed themselves.
According to research, 1 in 7 victims of sextortion were driven to harm themselves as a result of their experience. For LGBTQ+ youth, that number nearly triples to 28%.
Since 2021, at least 36 teenagers have taken their own lives in response to the threat of their sexually explicit images being shared.
That’s 36 teenagers dead. By suicide. Because someone extorted them online.
How Sextortion Happens (And Why It’s Effective)
The typical scenario:
A teenage boy receives a friend request on Instagram, Snapchat, or TikTok from someone claiming to be a girl his age. The “girl” sends messages. Flirts. Builds trust over days or weeks. Eventually asks for sexual images.
The boy, thinking he’s flirting with a peer, complies.
Suddenly the predator reveals themselves. They have the images. They have his contact list. They’re going to send the images to everyone unless he sends money.
The average demand is $10-$50 for a minor. The boy panics. He’s humiliated. He’s terrified. He sends the money.
And then the demands keep coming. More money. More images. More threats.
Perpetrators often send dozens of messages in rapid succession, a tactic intended to create panic and limit opportunities to seek help. In some cases, victims are contacted, threatened and overwhelmed within hours.
Some victims pay. Some try to comply. And some, feeling trapped and hopeless, take their own lives.
AI Deepfakes Make It Worse
The crime is evolving. Predators no longer need children to actually send explicit images. They can create them with artificial intelligence.
An offender no longer needs to engage with a child online and deceive them into sending an explicit image. Instead, the offender can locate an innocuous image of the child on social media, create an explicit digital forgery depicting that child, and sextort the child based on the AI digital forgery.
A child’s innocent school photo from Instagram. A picture from a school directory. A family vacation photo. An AI tool creates fake explicit imagery using that child’s face. Then sextortion begins based on deepfakes that don’t even exist.
In the first six months of 2025, authorities received reports from the public that involved AI being used as part of financial sextortion.
Child Sex Trafficking Is Exploding Too
Beyond sextortion, child sex trafficking online is exploding at an unprecedented rate.
Reports of child sex trafficking have had the sharpest increase in recent years. Most children are being sold for sex online, not on streets—through websites, apps, and encrypted platforms where predators operate with relative impunity.
That’s a dramatic increase in just twelve months. Most children are being trafficked for sex online, not physically—through digital platforms where predators operate with relative anonymity.
What Parents Actually Need to Know
The good news: law enforcement is prioritizing this. Operation Relentless Justice represents sustained federal effort to catch predators.
The bad news: the crimes are evolving faster than many parents understand.
What parents should actually do:
Start conversations about sextortion early, before children are actively independent online. Include clear discussions about how it happens. Focus on building trust rather than instilling fear. Emphasize that victims are never to blame for their exploitation.
If your child is victimized:
First reassure them that they are not in trouble and they are not alone. Do not delete images or messages because they might be needed to prosecute the predator. Report the incident to protect others. Report to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children immediately.
Know the red flags:
- New “friends” online who quickly become romantic interests
- Requests for private messaging away from platform (moving to text, Snapchat, encrypted apps)
- Pressure to send photos, videos, or engage in sexual conversations
- Threats or blackmail mentioning friends or family
- Demands for money or gift cards
- Multiple contacts from someone claiming to be a peer
Why Operation Relentless Justice Is Important
This operation sends a message: predators targeting children will be found, arrested, and prosecuted federally. Law enforcement agencies across the country are coordinated. Resources are deployed. Conviction rates are high.
But it also reveals the scale of the problem. Two hundred and ninety-three predators arrested in two weeks. That’s not the entire problem. That’s what federal law enforcement can catch when focused and coordinated.
Imagine how many are still operating. Imagine how many children are being victimized right now.
The Victim Services Reality
Operation Relentless Justice didn’t just make arrests. The FBI’s Victim Services Division assisted the 205 rescued children with:
- Forensic interviews
- Medical and mental health referrals
- Coordination with victim advocates
- Support navigating the criminal justice system
This is victim-centered enforcement—catching predators AND supporting survivors.
When a victim’s nude photos or videos are already online, there’s a resource called Take It Down that helps provide a process to request removal from the internet.
What You Should Do Right Now
If you have children or teens:
Have the conversation. Talk about sextortion. Talk about online predators. Talk about how quickly manipulation can happen.
Know the hotlines:
- National Center for Missing and Exploited Children: 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678)
- FBI Tip Line: 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324)
- Report online exploitation: cybertipline.org
Monitor without hovering. Know who your child is talking to. Know what apps they’re using. Check in regularly without being invasive.
Educate yourself. Read about current threats. Understand sextortion, deepfakes, and how predators operate. Knowledge is protection.
Create safe reporting. Make it clear your child can come to you if something happens online without fear of losing their devices or being punished.
The Bottom Line
Operation Relentless Justice arrested 293 child sex predators in two weeks and rescued 205 children from active exploitation. It’s a massive federal effort showing what coordinated law enforcement can accomplish.
But it’s also a reminder that child sexual exploitation online is a crisis. Sextortion is exploding. Child sex trafficking is booming. AI is enabling new forms of abuse.
Your child is at risk. Not because you’re a bad parent. But because predators are sophisticated, coordinated, and relentless.
Federal law enforcement is fighting back. But parents need to be the first line of defense. Talk to your kids. Know what they’re doing online. Create an environment where they can report problems without shame.
This is one of the most important conversations you’ll have with your family.
