Extortion and threats · Also called financial sextortion, sextortion of minors, teen sextortion, nude image blackmail
Financial sextortion of children and teens
Financial sextortion is a crime in which an offender, often posing online as someone the same age, pressures a child or teen into sending a sexual image and then threatens to share it with family and friends unless they pay. It is never the young person's fault, and free help is available to stop it.
How it works
- The offender contacts a young person on social media, a gaming site, or a messaging app, often through a fake account, pretending to be someone their own age who is interested in them.
- They quickly move the chat to another app and ask for a nude image, sometimes sending one first; some claim to already have an image, or threaten to make a fake one with editing tools.
- Once they have an image, they threaten to send it to the young person's family, friends, or followers unless they are paid, often in gift cards, through payment apps, or in cryptocurrency.
- Paying or sending more images rarely ends it, because the blackmail usually continues.
Red flags
- Someone new online moves very fast and asks for nude or sexual images soon after connecting.
- They push to move the conversation from one app to another, such as from social media to private video chat or messaging.
- They offer to send a picture first, or say they work for a modelling agency.
- They threaten to share an image unless they receive money, gift cards, or more images.
If you are targeted
- Stop all contact and do not pay or send anything more: paying or cooperating rarely stops the blackmail.
- Remember that the blackmailer is to blame, not you. Even if you made a choice you regret, what they are doing is a crime.
- Tell a parent or another adult you trust, or contact NCMEC for support at gethelp@ncmec.org or 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678).
- Report and block the account on the platform, but do not delete your profile or messages, because they help stop the blackmailer.
- Use NCMEC's free Take It Down service at takeitdown.ncmec.org to help stop images taken when you were under 18 from being shared on participating platforms; your image stays on your device.
- Report it to the NCMEC CyberTipline at report.cybertip.org and to the FBI at tips.fbi.gov or 1-800-CALL-FBI; outside the US, our Report a scam page lists where to report.
- If you feel unsafe or overwhelmed, call emergency services (911 in the US) or talk to a health care provider or mental health professional.
Prevention
For individuals
- Parents and educators: talk openly with young people about how sextortion happens and make clear they can come to you without being blamed.
- Keep an eye on children's online activity and talk about the risks of chatting with people they have not met in person.
- Set social media profiles and friends lists to private, and be cautious about friend requests, video calls, and sharing images with people you do not know personally.
For organisations
- Schools and youth groups can use NCMEC's free NetSmartz sextortion videos, discussion guides, and posters.
- Online platforms can join Take It Down, so that hashed images reported by young people can be found and removed.
By the numbers
Figures are for the reporting category this scam falls under, not this scam alone.
| Sextortion submissions to the FBI IC3 in 2025 (more than this many) | 75,000 | US, 2025, FBI IC3 |
| Extortion losses reported to the FBI IC3 in 2025 | $122.5M | US, 2025, FBI IC3 |
Real cases
2024-09 · US · Sentenced
Ogoshi brothers sentenced for sextortion of teenage boys, 2024
How official datasets classify it
- FBI IC3
- Extortion
- Scamwatch
- Threat scams
Questions
- What should my child do if someone is threatening to share their photos?
- Stop contact, do not pay, and keep the messages. Report the account, tell a trusted adult, and report it to the NCMEC CyberTipline and the FBI. NCMEC's Take It Down service can help remove images taken when they were under 18.
- Will paying make the threats stop?
- Usually not. NCMEC says cooperating or paying rarely stops the blackmail, and the FBI warns that complying with extortion does not guarantee the content will not be shared.
- Can images be taken down once they are shared?
- It can help. NCMEC's free Take It Down service creates a digital fingerprint, or hash, of the image on your own device, so the image is never uploaded. Participating platforms use the fingerprint to find copies and can act to remove them or limit their spread.