Survival guide

Sextortion: what to do right now

Someone is threatening to share your private images unless you pay money or send more. Take a breath. This is a crime being committed against you, it happens to thousands of people, and there is a clear way through it. You will get past this.

The three rules, before anything else:

Don't pay. Paying almost never makes it stop — it signals you'll pay again.
Stop responding to the blackmailer, but don't delete anything — you'll need it to report.
Tell someone and report it (below). If you're a minor, tell a trusted adult — you will not be in trouble.

What to do right now

Follow these steps in order. They come from the FBI and NCMEC.

Stop all contact with the blackmailer. Don't reply, don't negotiate, don't threaten back. Engagement is what they want.
Do not pay — and if you already paid, stop. Compliance tends to escalate demands, not end them.
Don't delete the account or the messages. Before you block, take screenshots of the threats, the username, the profile, and any payment requests. This evidence is what lets platforms and law enforcement act. (Screenshot the conversation — you never need to keep the intimate image itself.)
Block the person on every app once you've captured the evidence.
Report it — to the platform, to NCMEC, and to the FBI (see below).
Start a removal for any image that may be circulating (see below).
Tell someone you trust and don't go through it alone. If you're feeling hopeless, reach a crisis line now — call or text 988 (US).

It is not your fault

Sextortionists are organized criminals who do this at scale, often from overseas, using practiced scripts designed to make you panic and act before you think. Being targeted does not make you foolish or to blame — the person threatening you is the one committing a crime.

This is also one of the most common online crimes there is. NCMEC received more than 546,000 reports of online enticement, including sextortion, in 2024 — roughly a threefold increase over the prior year — and that figure rose again in 2025. You are very far from alone, and the people you report to have seen this many times before.

If you're a teenager reading this

Telling a parent feels like the scariest part — it is almost always the thing that ends it fastest. A good adult will be glad you told them and will help. You will not be in trouble for being the victim of a crime. The shame the blackmailer is counting on is exactly what loses its power the moment you tell someone.

Get the images removed

Free services can help stop an image from spreading — and crucially, they work without you ever uploading the image. Your device creates a digital fingerprint (a “hash”) of the image; only that fingerprint is shared with participating platforms, which use it to detect and block matches. The picture never leaves your phone.

Take It Down (NCMEC) — for images of someone who was under 18 when the image was taken. Free and anonymous. takeitdown.ncmec.org
StopNCII.org — for adults (18+), including AI-generated/deepfake images. Run by the UK Revenge Porn Helpline with Meta and other platforms. stopncii.org
Report Remove (UK) — for under-18s in the UK, run by Childline and the IWF. childline.org.uk

A new US law, the TAKE IT DOWN Act (signed May 2025), also requires covered platforms to remove reported non-consensual intimate images — including AI deepfakes — within 48 hours, enforced by the FTC. If a platform ignores a valid request, that non-compliance is itself reportable. Be honest with yourself about the limits, too: once an image has spread widely, hash-matching and takedowns sharply reduce its visibility but can't guarantee every copy is gone. That is not your failure — it is the nature of the medium, and it does not diminish the steps worth taking.

For a step-by-step walkthrough of which removal tool fits your exact situation — and the restitution survivors can claim — see our image-removal guide. The legal right behind that 48-hour deadline is tracked on the laws & policy page, and the organization directory lists groups that can help you directly.

Report it

NCMEC CyberTipline — report.cybertip.org or 1-800-843-5678. Routes to law enforcement and the platforms.
FBI — tips.fbi.gov or 1-800-CALL-FBI. The FBI treats financial sextortion of minors as a serious, actively-investigated crime.
The platform where it happened — every major app has a dedicated report flow for threats and intimate-image abuse. Report the account before you block it.
Outside the US: your national hotline via INHOPE, or see our reporting guide.

You do not have to be certain a crime occurred to report. Reporting agencies would far rather receive a report that turns out to be nothing than miss one that wasn't.

How the scam works (so you can spot it)

Financial sextortion — the fastest-growing form, which disproportionately targets teenage boys — usually runs a predictable arc: a stranger (often posing as a peer or an attractive young woman) starts a friendly or flirtatious chat on a social or gaming platform, quickly moves it to a more private app, persuades the target to send a nude or sexual image, and then immediately turns hostile: pay now, or the image goes to your family, your followers, your school. The whole cycle can take less than an hour. The accounts are frequently run by organized crime networks.

Knowing the pattern is itself protection: a new “friend” who moves fast, pushes for images, and then pivots to threats is running this script. The same response applies no matter how far it has gone — stop, don't pay, preserve, report.

For parents

If your child is being sextorted, your first words matter enormously: lead with “I'm glad you told me, we'll handle this together, you're not in trouble.” Then work the steps above with them — don't pay, preserve evidence, block, report, remove. Watch for signs a child is being targeted but hasn't said anything: sudden secrecy or panic around a device, withdrawal, or out-of-the-blue requests for money or gift cards.

The shame around sextortion can feel unbearable to a teen, and it has been linked to youth suicide — take any expression of hopelessness seriously and stay close. Our guide for parents covers the prevention conversation in depth.

Crisis help

988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (US) — call or text 988, 24/7. If you feel hopeless, reach out before doing anything else.
NCMEC — 1-800-843-5678 · report.cybertip.org
Crisis Text Line — text HOME to 741741 (US)
Cyber Civil Rights Initiative helpline — 1-844-878-2274 (image abuse)

Sources: FBI and NCMEC sextortion guidance; NCMEC CyberTipline data (2024–2025). Last reviewed May 2026. This page is information, not legal advice.