US Payments Linked to Child Sexual Abuse in Philippines Exceed $7 Million as Cases Expose Foreign Demand

Financial records reveal the scale of American demand

Nearly $7.3 million in suspected child exploitation transactions entered the Philippines from US senders during an 18 month period described as running from mid 2020 to 2022, according to International Justice Mission testimony citing the Philippine Anti-Money Laundering Council. More than 67,000 suspicious transaction reports associated with US payments accounted for 52.25% of the reports in that period.

Those financial alerts sit alongside a much larger estimate of harm. A study by International Justice Mission (IJM) and the University of Nottingham Rights Lab estimated that nearly 500,000 Filipino children, roughly one in 100, were trafficked to produce child sexual exploitation material for profit in 2022. It also estimated that nearly 250,000 adults in the Philippines participated in that trafficking.

An investigation published on October 11, 2026, traced how foreign offenders paid relatives and other local facilitators to arrange abuse, sometimes directing it through live video calls. It documented survivors whose exploitation began during childhood, convictions spanning national borders and online groups advertising abusive material at very low prices.

The financial figures require a distinction. Reports describe Americans spending more than $7 million between 2020 and 2022. John Tanagho's IJM testimony gives the more precise figure of nearly $7.3 million, identifies an 18 month reporting period and describes the transactions as suspected exploitation payments. These are financial warning signals, not a total of purchases individually established in court.

The council's findings identify the United States as the leading source of suspected demand payments from 2015 to 2023. The dollar total cannot establish how many children were abused: prices vary, one child may appear in many recordings, and payments can purchase either existing material or access to new abuse.

What the national estimate measures

IJM and the Nottingham Rights Lab released their Scale of Harm findings on September 7, 2023. The research concerned trafficking to produce new child sexual exploitation material for profit, especially livestreamed abuse. It was not simply a count of abusive files circulating online.

The study took two years and involved survivor consultants and 24 experts, researchers and field practitioners. Professor Zoe Trodd, director of the Nottingham Rights Lab, said it used national household surveys and data analysis, building on IJM's 2020 research. Survivors contributed to survey design and discussions about concealment, reporting barriers and relationships between children and traffickers.

The estimated adult participation rate was roughly three in every 1,000 adults. Both national figures are estimates, rather than counts of identified victims or convicted offenders. Earlier IJM research struggled to measure prevalence because affected populations were difficult to reach and records were scarce and fragmented.

IJM also cited previous studies showing that more than half of children abused in these cases were 12 or younger, with the youngest only months old. Victims experienced abuse for an average of two years before safeguarding. Those findings describe earlier research, not a separate age breakdown of every child represented in the 2022 estimate.

Kate's case shows how buyers direct abuse

Kate, an alias used to protect a survivor's identity, said she was 13 when her adoptive older sister introduced her to online sexual exploitation during the COVID pandemic. Her father had lost his job, and her sister, identified as Lorraine, asked her to take over some online customers. Two neighbours also allegedly involved Kate when customers requested younger participants.

Requests escalated from pretending to be a customer's girlfriend to demands for sexual performances and violent abuse. Kate feared that men watching remotely might come to her home in the Philippines. One American customer reportedly threatened sexual violence involving a gun.

Carey Lee Sackmann, a former logistics company employee from Maryland, was identified as one of the Americans who directed abuse involving Kate and other children. Court records cited in the investigation show that he received a 10 year prison sentence. He used multiple Skype accounts to communicate with facilitators, and his youngest identified victim was estimated to be six.

An investigation involving the FBI and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) connected Sackmann to several facilitators, including Kate's sister. Lorraine was sentenced to 33 years. Sackmann's plea agreement provided for $50,000 in restitution, of which Kate received $6,300. Accounts describe that sum both as an order to pay and as restitution paid.

Now 20 in the investigation's account, Kate described continuing damage to her confidence and relationships. Her experience shows why a conviction and a financial award do not, by themselves, mark the end of a survivor's recovery.

Family control can keep children silent

Isa, another survivor identified by an alias, said her aunties forced her and her young cousins to participate in livestreamed abuse. She was eight when it began, according to the investigation. Foreign customers' schedules determined when the children were summoned, including during the night.

Isa, who was 14 when interviewed, described the connection between incoming calls and the abuse:

There were foreigners on the phone. When they would call, that's when they needed me.

Court records and interviews documented the exploitation. A Swiss customer became a repeat buyer, and a PayPal account connected to one aunt contained more than $3,500, described as suspected proceeds. The children were eventually rescued and placed in a shelter. Their caretakers said the case led to a conviction in Switzerland and an investigation in the United Kingdom.

Philippine National Police figures cited in the October 2026 investigation showed that 32 of 50 women arrested during the previous year for online child sexual abuse and exploitation were mothers, or 64%. That is a share of arrested women, not a national estimate of all perpetrators.

Earlier IJM case research found that biological parents facilitated abuse involving 41% of victims, while other relatives facilitated abuse involving another 42%. Separate rescue records covering 2011 to May 2020 put relatives or close family friends at 57% of perpetrators. These figures measure different groups and periods, so they should not be treated as interchangeable rates.

Small payments sustain a market for new abuse

Individual abusive images can sell for a few dollars. The October 2026 investigation found private Telegram groups, some with thousands of users, advertising material at prices comparable to a cup of coffee. Other payments bought access to live abuse or requests for particular content.

IJM said foreign offenders had paid traffickers in the Philippines as little as £15 to participate in online abuse. A separate account published in May 2021 described a mother allegedly selling clips of her children for between 150 and 2,500 Philippine pesos, then reported as about $3 to $50. Livestream access was more expensive than recorded material.

Financial pressure appeared repeatedly in survivors' accounts, including Kate's family's loss of income. The official Disrupting Harm report also described children being coerced into abuse because they believed they had to help feed their families.

Among 37 frontline social support workers surveyed for that report, 95% selected extreme poverty as a factor increasing vulnerability, and 92% selected access to technology and the internet. These are workers' assessments, not proof that either factor inevitably causes abuse. Responsibility rests with the adults who exploit children and the offenders who pay them.

The report described another obstacle to tracing transactions: facilitators sometimes used someone else to collect payments and deliver the money to a child's family. Ordinary remittance infrastructure can therefore become part of an exploitation chain without every transfer through it being suspicious.

Abuse reports surged before and during lockdowns

Disrupting Harm found that reports of suspected online child sexual exploitation and abuse submitted by electronic service providers to the US National Center for Missing and Exploited Children increased 479% between 2017 and 2019. The Philippines accounted for 4.7% of global CyberTips in 2019, almost all concerning possession, manufacture or distribution of child sexual abuse material.

During 2020, technology companies reported more than 1.29 million abusive images and videos originating from the Philippines, more than triple the 2019 figure. The Philippine Department of Justice separately reported 202,605 online sexual exploitation cases from March 1 to May 24, 2020, a 265% increase over the same period a year earlier.

These measures cannot be added together. Images, videos, tips and administratively recorded cases are different units, and none necessarily represents a unique child. Changes in detection and reporting can also affect the totals. Even with those limits, the figures show substantial growth in recorded activity before and during pandemic restrictions.

The principal dated developments span several years:

• 2010 to 2017: IJM's baseline study examined Philippine investigations and international referrals.
• March to May 2020: Philippine authorities recorded a sharp increase in online exploitation reports during lockdowns.
• 2022: The period covered by the Scale of Harm national prevalence estimate.
• September 7, 2023: IJM and the Nottingham Rights Lab announced the study's findings.
• January 2025: US investigators referred information about a Canadian suspect to Canadian authorities.
• October 11, 2026: The investigation detailing survivors, foreign buyers and enforcement difficulties was published.

Why livestreams are difficult to investigate

IJM's 2020 exploitation study distinguishes livestreamed abuse from simply distributing an existing file. A remote offender can watch, engage with and direct abuse as it happens. The absence of physical proximity does not make that person a passive observer.

A US federal investigator said livestream cases were particularly difficult to prosecute because offenders often avoided recording sessions. Without a saved video, investigators may have less evidence of what happened, even when communication or payment records indicate an abusive relationship.

The 2020 study also identified a technical gap. Image matching tools such as PhotoDNA help detect copies of material already identified as abusive. They cannot, by that matching process alone, identify a previously unseen recording or abuse occurring live. The study called for proactive detection of newly produced material and livestreamed abuse.

Private groups and encrypted messaging create further investigative obstacles, although not every private group is encrypted and not every encrypted conversation concerns crime. Disrupting Harm described offenders using Facebook as an initial contact point before moving children to encrypted services.

Platform responses differ. WhatsApp pointed to information about identifying suspected abuse through certain data and user reports. Viber described automated tools and human moderators. Telegram spokesperson Devon Spurgeon said the service had banned more than 400,000 channels related to child abuse in 2026, while acknowledging attempts by banned users to return. That claim counts channels, not rescued children or prevented offences.

Investigations connect buyers and facilitators across borders

International referrals have long been central to Philippine investigations. IJM's 2020 case review found that, among cases initiated through international law enforcement referrals, the United States supplied 31, or 55%, and the Nordic Liaison Office supplied 13, or 22%. Disrupting Harm cautioned that reliance on foreign referrals may reflect reactive investigation practices and should not be read as proof that most offenders are foreigners.

A Winnipeg case illustrates both cooperation and alleged coercion. Police charged Christopher Steven Hoskins, 50, after alleging that he paid two people in the Philippines to produce abuse material involving children in their care between late 2017 and mid 2023.

Police further alleged that, from March to July 2023, he demanded additional material and threatened to share existing recordings with the caregivers' relatives and friends. HSI alerted Canada's National Child Exploitation Crime Centre in January 2025. Hoskins was arrested on October 1 and faced charges involving sexual offences, abuse material and extortion. The account does not specify the arrest year. The allegations have not been established as convictions.

In Cebu City, authorities rescued a five year old girl and arrested her 25 year old mother and the mother's partner at a home in Sitio Tambisan, Barangay Tisa, on September 30. HSI Manila referred information on September 18, and a court issued a cyber warrant on September 29. The account does not give the year of those September events.

The Cebu suspects were charged under Republic Acts 11930, 9208 and 7610, covering online child exploitation, trafficking and child protection. The child entered protective custody with the Department of Social Welfare and Development. Charges are allegations, not findings of guilt.

Enforcement resources and survivor protection

Data obtained by the Cato Institute indicated that nearly 90% of HSI agents, more than 6,000 personnel, were diverted to immigration enforcement after President Donald Trump returned to office in January 2025. Investigators said reassignment delayed some child abuse cases and allowed leads to go cold. HSI did not respond to a request for comment described in the investigation.

The accounts do not establish how many exploitation investigations were delayed or abandoned because of those staffing changes. The Winnipeg and Cebu referrals nevertheless show why work in one jurisdiction matters elsewhere: information developed by US investigators can help identify a foreign suspect or locate a child in immediate danger.

Protection also requires attention to relationships inside the home. Disrupting Harm explains that Philippine law criminalises coercing children to produce abuse material and knowingly allowing a child in one's custody to participate. Its discussion of the Anti-Child Pornography Act treats livestreamed abuse as implicitly criminalised. The Cebu case cites separate legislation, including Republic Act 11930.

IJM's testimony said the organisation had supported Philippine law enforcement in safeguarding more than 1,180 victims and people at risk since 2011. That cumulative figure measures intervention, not the remaining prevalence of abuse. Survivors involved in its research called for earlier detection, stronger reporting and action against foreign offenders who create demand.

No next hearing dates are given for the Winnipeg or Cebu cases, and the outcome of the British investigation connected to Isa is not stated. The financial alerts, national prevalence estimate and individual prosecutions together establish a substantial problem, while leaving the full number of payments, offenders and affected children unknown.

Key Points

• IJM testimony cites nearly $7.3 million in suspected exploitation payments from US senders during an 18 month period described as mid 2020 to 2022.
• The Scale of Harm study estimated that nearly 500,000 Filipino children were trafficked to produce new exploitation material for profit in 2022.
• Survivor accounts and court cases show foreign offenders directing abuse through local facilitators, often relatives.
• Carey Lee Sackmann received a 10 year prison sentence; Kate received $6,300 from the restitution associated with his case.
• Livestreams can leave limited recorded evidence, while known image matching tools cannot alone detect new abuse.
• Investigations in Canada and Cebu demonstrate the role of international referrals. Their charges are not convictions.