The Cost
The numbers are hard to read. That’s exactly why our teams read them every day.
Every case Rescue 1’s R.I.S.E. Teams and SAF3CRU (SAFE Care Response Unit – pron. safe crew) touch starts as a data point in a report before it becomes a name and a face.
What the national data shows
NCMEC’s full 2025 data is now out: the CyberTipline received 21.3 million reports of suspected online child exploitation, containing more than 61.8 million images, videos, and files. Online enticement reports jumped 156% over 2024, to 1.4 million — including more than 80,000 sextortion reports and over 800 cases where an offender traveled to meet a child in person. Reports tied to generative AI reached 1.5 million. One number needs context, not alarm alone: child sex trafficking reports jumped over 1,000% since 2023 — but that’s driven largely by the 2024 REPORT Act expanding what platforms are required to report, not a claim that trafficking itself grew that fast. The honest read: reporting got much more complete, and what it’s revealing is still getting worse underneath it.
Why Tennessee is a frontline state
Tennessee’s ICAC Task Force is a statewide partnership among city, county, state, and federal law enforcement built specifically to respond to technology-facilitated child exploitation. Tennessee’s 2024 trafficking hotline data identified 55 reported minors among last year’s known trafficking victims. Investigators describe this as far from an isolated case — it connects to a broader web of increasing reports across Tennessee and neighboring states, spanning a wide range of victim ages, including infants.
This isn’t hypothetical
Just this month, TBI’s Internet Crimes Against Children Unit arrested a Middle Tennessee man on multiple charges — including aggravated sexual exploitation of a minor — after a joint investigation with Fairfax County, VA authorities found he’d allegedly solicited child sexual abuse material from minors, including several in the Cookeville area, in exchange for money, using TikTok and Snapchat. The investigation remains active. This is the kind of case Tennessee’s ICAC task force exists to catch — and the kind of report our R.I.S.E. Team and SAF3CRU are built to respond to.
How R1G responds
Rescue 1’s R.I.S.E. Team works directly with state and federal law enforcement agencies to share actionable data, support field-level trend analysis, and turn cold or stalled leads into verifiable, actionable intelligence. When a report comes in, that partnership turns into a real response — verifying locations and information, coordinating urgent survivor recovery and safety protocols, and activating our SAF3CRU for case management and a path into restoration for the children behind the numbers.
Why this isn’t slowing down
These trends aren’t decreasing — they’re accelerating. As generative AI gets better at producing convincing images and video, offenders have more material to trade and more tools to fabricate it from scratch. As algorithms and platforms get better at connecting people, offenders get better at finding vulnerable kids faster. And as encryption and anonymization tools spread, offenders get better at hiding from the very systems built to catch them. Better technology doesn’t only help investigators — it helps offenders too, and right now it’s helping them find, produce, and conceal exploitation at a scale that didn’t exist even five years ago.
Call to Action
This month, help us close the gap between what the data shows and what our teams can respond to. Fund Emergency and Rescue Operations
Learn the signs — request a child protection/online safety training for your team, church, or school
Report what you see — save the TN Human Trafficking Hotline (1-855-558-6484) and NCMEC’s CyberTipline
Share this data – help more parents, coaches, and youth leaders see these numbers. Encourage them to learn how to prevent, protect, respond, be accountable, and join the fight.
