Key takeaways

Do not pay, stop replying, keep the evidence, and report the account. The blame sits with the person making the threat, not with you.

  • Paying usually leads to more demands, not to silence.
  • If the image was taken before you turned 18, use NCMEC’s Take It Down. If you were an adult, use StopNCII.org.
  • If you or someone you know feels unsafe or hopeless, contact a crisis line now. In the US, call or text 988.

What sextortion is

Sextortion is blackmail over intimate images or videos, real or faked. The offender threatens to send them to your family, friends or followers unless you pay money, send more images, or do something else they demand. The FBI’s 2025 Internet Crime Report says IC3 received more than 75,000 submissions about sextortion that year, and referred more than 5,700 submissions involving minors to NCMEC.

It can happen to anyone, at any age. The report breaks submissions down by age, and the largest single group was people in their twenties, followed by people in their thirties, with more than 11,000 submissions from people under 20. Reports involving teenage boys have drawn most public attention, but the report shows adults are affected in larger numbers.

How it usually starts

The FBI describes sextortion as something that can start on any site, app, messaging platform or game. More often than an opening threat, it begins when the person believes they are talking with someone their own age who is interested in them. After the offender gets one or more images, the threats begin.

A common pattern aimed at teens is financial sextortion. A new account, often posing as an attractive young person, friends the target, moves the chat to a private app and sends a photo first. When the teen sends one back, the tone changes and a payment is demanded, often through gift cards, peer-to-peer payment apps or cryptocurrency. The FBI says many of these offenders operate from outside the United States.

Adults see other versions: a dating profile that pushes for a video call, then a screen recording used as a threat. There are also bulk emails claiming your webcam was hacked, often quoting an old password. Those are covered in the FAQ below.

Warning signs

  • A stranger who friends or follows you and is quickly flirty, with a profile that looks new or has few real photos.
  • Pressure to move from a public app to a private one within minutes.
  • They send a photo first and ask for one in return.
  • A sudden change in tone, followed by a countdown and a payment demand.
  • A screenshot of your followers or friends list, used to show who they could contact.
  • Payment requested in gift cards, crypto, or a payment app.

What to do right now

Work through these in order. You do not have to do everything in one sitting.

  1. Stop replying and do not pay. Paying rarely ends it. Blackmailers usually come back with a higher demand. Stop all contact, but do not delete the conversation yet.
  2. Keep the evidence. Take screenshots of the messages, the profile name, the username, the payment requests and any wallet or account details. Do not forward or save any intimate images of a person under 18, because possessing them can itself be a crime. Describe them in your report instead.
  3. Block and report the account on the platform. Use the app’s report function for sexual extortion or child safety. Do not deactivate your own account first, because the platform may need it to act. Blocking after you have saved the evidence is fine.
  4. Ask for removal of any images that were posted. If you were under 18 when the image was taken, use NCMEC’s Take It Down. If you were 18 or older, use StopNCII.org. Both work from a digital fingerprint, so the image does not leave your device.
  5. Tell someone you trust. A parent, a friend, a teacher, a counsellor. The shame is what keeps this going, and the threat loses most of its force once someone else knows.
  6. Report to the police and a national hotline. Use the channel for your country listed below. Give them the usernames, dates, amounts and payment details.

Take It Down and StopNCII.org

Take It Down is a free service from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children for anyone who has nude, partially nude or sexually explicit images or videos that were taken before they turned 18. It creates a digital fingerprint, called a hash, on your device. Only the hash goes to NCMEC, and participating platforms can use it to detect and remove the content. The site tells people not to send, share or download an image in order to use it. A parent or trusted adult can use it on a young person’s behalf.

For images taken at 18 or older, StopNCII.org works in a similar way. Neither tool can reach every website, so also report the image directly to each platform where it appears.

For parents and carers

The first reaction matters most. Young people often say they stayed silent because they feared punishment or disappointment. Tell your child that they are not in trouble, that the offender is at fault, and that the threat can be dealt with.

  • Do not pay, and do not confront the account.
  • Preserve the messages and usernames, then report to the platform and to law enforcement.
  • Help your child submit the images to Take It Down.
  • Watch for signs of distress and contact a crisis line or doctor if you are worried about their safety.
  • Talk about it before it happens. The FBI encourages families to have open conversations about sextortion.

If you already paid

You are not the first, and it is not too late to stop. Do not send more. Contact your bank, card issuer or payment app using the number on the card or inside the official app, explain that you were blackmailed, and ask whether the payment can be stopped or reported. For gift cards, contact the card issuer with the card numbers. Keep every receipt, then report as below. Be wary of anyone who offers to “delete” the images for a fee. That is a second scam, see our guide to recovery scams.

Where to report, by country

More help from official sources

Scambaba is an independent educational project and this is not legal or medical advice. How these guides are researched is on the editorial policy.

Frequently asked questions

Should I pay a sextortion blackmailer to make it stop?

No. The FBI and Cybertip.ca both advise against paying. Payment tells the offender that you will pay, and demands usually grow. Stop replying, keep the evidence, and report it.

Will they really send the images to my friends and family?

Sometimes offenders do post or send material, but most threats are never carried out, and many are bluffs built from a copied social media friends list. Reporting the account and using Take It Down or StopNCII.org reduces the damage if it happens.

I got an email saying my webcam was hacked and showing my password. Is it real?

These bulk emails are almost always scams. The password usually comes from an old data breach, and the sender typically has no footage. Change that password everywhere you used it, turn on two-factor authentication, and do not pay. See our guide on what to do after a data breach.

My teenager is being blackmailed. What should I say to them?

Tell them they are not in trouble, that the blame sits with the offender, and that you will deal with it together. Then do not pay, preserve the evidence, report to the platform and the police, and submit the images to Take It Down.

Is it a crime if I sent a nude photo when I was under 18?

Authorities treat the young person as the victim in these cases. Law enforcement and NCMEC focus on the offender. If you are worried about the legal side, say so when you report and ask the officer or the hotline.

Can I get the images taken off the internet for good?

Take It Down and StopNCII.org help participating platforms detect and block known images, but they cannot reach every site. NCMEC notes that platforms may be limited in removing content already posted. Report to each site where the image appears as well.