Sextortion: What to Do If Someone Threatens to Share Images
If someone is threatening to share intimate images of you unless you pay, you are not alone and it is not your fault. Immediate steps, why not to pay, how to report, and where to get support.
If someone is threatening to share intimate images or videos of you unless you pay or send more, you may feel panicked, ashamed and alone. Please read this first: you are not alone, it is not your fault, and there is help. People of every age and background are targeted. The person threatening you is committing a crime.
If you feel unsafe or are thinking about harming yourself, contact your local emergency number or a crisis line now. This situation can be dealt with. Talking to someone today helps.
Right now: four steps
- Stop responding. Do not negotiate, argue or send anything more.
- Do not pay. Paying rarely stops the threats. It shows you will pay, and demands usually increase.
- Keep the evidence. Screenshot the messages, the account name or number, and any payment details they sent. Then block and report the account.
- Tell someone you trust. A friend, family member, or for young people, a parent, teacher or other trusted adult.
How sextortion usually happens
- A fake profile befriends or flirts with you on social media, a dating app or a game, then persuades you to share images or join a video call, which is recorded.
- A hacked account or stolen files are used as leverage.
- A bluff: emails claiming your webcam was hacked, sometimes quoting an old password from a data breach, when no images exist at all.
Many sextortion criminals are organized groups running the same script on many people, often quickly after first contact. Targeting teenage boys has been widely reported.
If you are under 18
- You are not in trouble. Adults and police who deal with this want to help you.
- Tell a trusted adult as soon as you can.
- Use Take It Down, a free service from the US National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, which helps remove nude or sexual images of under-18s from participating platforms. It can be used from anywhere.
- Report it: in the US to NCMEC's CyberTipline; in the UK to CEOP; elsewhere to your police or national child protection hotline.
If you are an adult
- StopNCII.org helps prevent intimate images being shared on participating platforms, without the images leaving your device.
- Report to the platforms where you were contacted or threatened. Most treat this as a priority.
- Report to the police or your national fraud and cybercrime service. See how to report a scam.
- In the UK, the Revenge Porn Helpline supports adults experiencing intimate image abuse.
If it is an email saying your webcam was hacked
These are usually bluffs sent to thousands of people. If it quotes a real password, that password probably came from an old data breach. Do not pay. Change that password anywhere you use it and turn on two-step verification. See scams that follow a data breach.
Secure your accounts
- Change passwords, starting with email and social media, and turn on two-step verification.
- Review privacy settings and who can see your friends or followers list, which criminals use to threaten you.
- Check for unfamiliar logins and remove them.
Look after yourself
Shame, fear and panic are normal reactions, and they are exactly what the criminal relies on. Talking to someone you trust takes away much of their power. Our guide to the emotional impact of being scammed may help.
For parents, our guide to teenagers and online scams covers how to talk about this before it happens. For more on how online scams work, read the complete guide to online scams.
Frequently asked questions
Should I pay the person threatening me?
No. Paying rarely ends the threats and often leads to more demands. Stop responding, keep the evidence, and report it.
I am under 18. What should I do?
Tell a trusted adult as soon as you can. You are not in trouble. In many countries you can report to a child protection service, and tools such as NCMEC's Take It Down can help remove images of under-18s from participating platforms.
Can images be removed from the internet?
Often, yes. Platforms remove this content when it is reported. StopNCII.org helps adults prevent intimate images being shared on participating platforms, and Take It Down helps with images of people under 18.
Is it my fault?
No. The person threatening you is committing a crime. Many people are targeted, including by criminals who never had any real images at all.
Sources
- Image-Based Abuse: What To Know and Do, US Federal Trade Commission
- StopNCII.org, StopNCII
- Is your explicit content out there?, National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
- CyberTipline, National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
- CEOP Safety Centre, National Crime Agency (UK)
- Revenge Porn Helpline, SWGfL (UK)
