Sextortion Help for Parents and What to Do Right Now

Your child is the victim of a crime and is not in trouble. Help is free and available around the clock. Paying rarely stops the blackmail, but the FBI says law enforcement can.^[4][5][2]

What to Do in the Next Hour

These steps come from FBI and NCMEC guidance. Work through them together with your child if you can.

1. Tell your child they are not in trouble. The FBI says a young person being sextorted is not the one breaking the law, even if they were on an app they were too young for, felt okay making some of the content, or accepted money or game credits.^[4]
2. Don’t pay and don’t send anything more. NCMEC says cooperating or paying rarely stops the blackmail.^[1] The FBI adds that offenders often release images whether or not they are paid.^[4]
3. Stop responding. The FBI urges targets to cut off contact.^[3] Don’t negotiate, plead, or threaten back.
4. Report the account on the app, then block it. Use the platform’s safety feature to report the account, then block it from contacting your child.^[2]
5. Keep the evidence. NCMEC says to block the suspect but not to delete the profile or messages.^[1] The FBI says saved messages and profiles can help identify the offender.^[2] Write down usernames, the apps used, payment requests, and dates. Don’t forward or re-share any explicit images.
6. Report to NCMEC and the FBI. Details are in the next section.
7. Start image removal. If images were taken before your child turned 18, use Take It Down.^[7]
8. Stay close. The FBI says victims often feel scared, alone, embarrassed, anxious, and desperate, and many feel there’s no way out.^[4] Keep checking in over the next several days.

How to Report Sextortion

You can report to more than one place. NCMEC says most questions on the CyberTipline form are not required, so you don’t need every detail before you report.^[5]

For a channel-by-channel checklist, see how to report sextortion.

How Take It Down Works

You select the image or video on your own device. The tool creates a “hash,” or digital fingerprint, and only that fingerprint goes to NCMEC. The image itself is not uploaded.^[7]

Participating platforms use the fingerprint to find and remove matching copies on their public or unencrypted services. The service is free and can be used anonymously. NCMEC notes that platforms may have limited ability to remove content that was posted in the past.^[7]

Your Right to Fast Removal Under Federal Law

Since May 19, 2026, the federal Take It Down Act has required social media, messaging and image-sharing platforms to remove intimate images posted without consent, including AI fakes, within 48 hours of a valid request.^[14] A parent can make the request for a child, and if a platform doesn’t act, you can report it to the FTC at TakeItDown.ftc.gov.^[15] The Take It Down Act guide explains exactly what to send.

Watch Out for Paid “Recovery” Services

The FBI has warned about for-profit companies that charge sextortion victims high fees for help that law enforcement and nonprofits provide for free.^[8] Warning signs include:^[8]

• A company contacting you out of the blue to offer help
• Payment required before any service is provided
• Pressure to sign a contract
• Discouraging you from contacting law enforcement
• High-pressure or scare tactics
• Claims of ties to government or law enforcement

What Happens After You Report

Reporting starts several things at once, and you may not hear back right away.

• NCMEC reviews every CyberTipline report. Staff work to find a likely location for what happened, so the report can go to the right law enforcement agency to investigate.^[16]
• The FBI and NCMEC share reports. In 2025, the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center referred more than 5,700 sextortion reports involving minors to NCMEC.^[13]
• Your family can get support. NCMEC offers victims and families crisis help and referrals to local counseling, and its Team HOPE program connects parents with others who have been through the same thing.^[16] You can reach NCMEC’s support team at gethelp@ncmec.org or 1-800-THE-LOST.^[1]
• Removal keeps working in the background. Take It Down fingerprints stay active on participating platforms, and any new copy can be reported to the platform under the 48-hour rule.^[7][14]

Keep the evidence you saved, and add anything new: new accounts that contact your child, new demands, or images that appear online.

What Is Sextortion?

Sextortion is blackmail using sexual images. NCMEC describes it as a form of child sexual exploitation in which a child is threatened or blackmailed, most often with the sharing of a nude or sexual image, by someone who demands more sexual content, sexual activity or money.^[1]

It usually takes one of two forms:

• Financial sextortion: the offender demands money, gift cards or cryptocurrency. NCMEC says this form has risen sharply, and teenage boys have been the most common targets.^[1]
• Sextortion for more images: the offender demands more sexual images or video, or sexual activity.^[1]

The first image may have been shared with someone the child thought they could trust, or obtained through deceit or coercion. Offenders often hide behind fake accounts using someone else’s stolen photos, and some send images first to make the exchange feel mutual.^[1]

What Financial Sextortion Looks Like

In financial sextortion, the offender gets an explicit image from a child and then threatens to release it unless the child sends money or gift cards.^[4] The FBI says it can happen in as little as five minutes.^[2]

Parents of teen boys: the financial sextortion guide covers how the scheme works and what to say before it happens.

How It Typically Starts

The FBI describes a common pattern:^[2]

• A friendly message on social media, a game, a gaming console, or a messaging app, often from a profile that looks like a teenage girl
• An account with few followers that looks new, or one that was hacked or copied to look like someone the child knows
• A request to move to a platform with video calling
• A request for explicit images or video, sometimes after the offender sends explicit material first

The FBI’s own example opens with a message about loving gaming.^[2] The guide to the signs of online grooming explains how trust-building works when it unfolds more slowly.

How the Threats Work

According to the FBI, demands usually begin right after the first image is sent. Offenders threaten to send it to family, friends, followers, or the child’s school, and may show screenshots of the child’s followers to make the threat feel real.^[2]

They demand gift cards, mobile payments, wire transfers, or cryptocurrency.^[2] Even when a child pays, they often demand more.^[3]

It Can Happen Without a Real Image

The FBI says some offenders get a photo of a child’s face and use editing software to combine it with explicit material found online.^[2] A fake image is still sextortion, and it should be reported the same way.

Why Teen Boys Are Targeted Most

The FBI says financial sextortion victims are typically boys ages 14 to 17.^[2] From October 2021 to March 2023, the FBI and Homeland Security Investigations received over 13,000 reports of financial sextortion of minors involving at least 12,600 victims, mostly boys.^[3]

The offenders are usually outside the United States, primarily in West African countries such as Nigeria and Ivory Coast or Southeast Asian countries such as the Philippines. They are motivated by money.^[2]

NCMEC notes that boys may feel especially embarrassed that this happened to them.^[9] Shame is what the offender relies on, which is why your calm response matters so much.

Sextortion Reports Keep Rising

In 2025, NCMEC’s CyberTipline received more than 80,000 reports concerning sextortion.^[6] Some of the growth in overall enticement reporting reflects a 2024 law, the REPORT Act, that requires online platforms to report enticement.^[6] The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center separately received more than 75,000 sextortion reports in 2025, from people of all ages.^[13]

The full numbers are in sextortion statistics 2026.

Is Sextortion a Crime?

Yes. NCMEC tells young people directly that even if they made a choice they regret, what the blackmailer is doing is a crime.^[1] As the FBI puts it, your child is the victim, not the one breaking the law.^[4]

Federal law covers the threat itself. Under the Take It Down Act, threatening to post a minor’s intimate images to intimidate, coerce or extort can bring up to 3 years in prison for a real image and up to 30 months for an AI or edited fake.^[14] Sexual images of children are also covered by separate, older federal laws, which the Take It Down Act leaves in place.^[14]

How to Support Your Child Emotionally

The FBI has linked financial sextortion to an alarming number of suicides among boys. In January 2024, it said it was aware of more than 20 suicide deaths connected to these schemes.^[2][3]

That is hard to read. It is also the reason to act the way the FBI and NCMEC recommend: quickly, calmly, and without blame. The FBI says cooperating with the offender rarely stops the blackmail, but law enforcement can.^[2]

What to Say

• “You’re not in trouble. The person doing this is committing a crime.”^[4]
• “I’m glad you told me. We’ll handle this together.”
• “You don’t have to handle this alone. There are people whose job is to help with exactly this.”

NCMEC’s message to teens is that the blackmailer is the one to blame.^[1] The National Child Traumatic Stress Network advises parents to stay calm and make clear the child is not to blame.^[10]

Keep the Phone Question Separate

The FBI says kids often don’t tell because they fear getting in trouble or losing access to their phone.^[4] Taking the device away as punishment right now can teach them not to come to you next time. You may still need to limit contact with the offender, so frame any changes as protection.

Know the Warning Signs of Suicide

The National Institute of Mental Health lists warning signs that include:^[11]

• Talking about wanting to die, feeling great guilt or shame, or being a burden
• Feeling empty, hopeless, or trapped
• Withdrawing from friends or giving away important items
• Extreme mood swings or changes in eating or sleeping

If you see these signs, especially if they are new or getting worse, get help right away. Call or text 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org.^[11] The 988 Lifeline is free, confidential, available 24/7, and also supports people who are worried about a loved one.^[12]

Plan for the Weeks Ahead

A mental health professional can help your child work through fear and shame. NCTSN recommends support from someone who specializes in child sexual abuse, and notes that children with supportive parents heal more quickly.^[10] A therapist directory can help you find one.

How to Lower the Risk Going Forward

The FBI calls information-sharing and open communication the best defense.^[4] Its suggestions for parents include:^[4]

• Explaining that people can pretend to be anyone online and nothing truly disappears
• Reviewing privacy settings on social media accounts together, since private accounts give offenders less information
• Considering a rule against devices in bedrooms overnight
• Telling your child, often, that your first move will always be to help

NCMEC also suggests helping your child name two or three other trusted adults they can go to.^[9] Games are a common starting point, so read about how predators reportedly use Roblox. For app-specific settings, see the Snapchat safety guide, and for the legal side, the Snapchat lawsuit guide. Every topic in this section is gathered at Kids Online Safety.

If You’re an Adult Being Blackmailed Online

The same core steps apply: don’t pay, stop responding, save the messages, and report. The FBI accepts reports at tips.fbi.gov or 1-800-CALL-FBI, and StopNCII can help remove intimate images of people 18 and older.^[4] If the situation is making you think about suicide, call or text 988.^[12]

If the threat arrived as a mass email claiming a hacker recorded you through your webcam and demanding Bitcoin, it’s almost certainly a scam. See how to tell a sextortion email is a scam.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is sextortion?

Sextortion is blackmail using sexual images. Someone threatens to share a nude or sexual image unless the victim sends money, more images or sexual activity.^[1]

Is my child in trouble for sending images?

No. The FBI says a young person being sextorted is the victim, not the one breaking the law, even if they were on an app they were too young for or sent some images willingly.^[4]

Should we pay the blackmailer?

No. NCMEC says paying or cooperating rarely stops the blackmail, and the FBI says offenders often release images whether or not they are paid.^[1][4]

Can sextortion happen without a real photo?

Yes. Some offenders edit a child’s face onto explicit material, and AI can create fakes. A fake image is still sextortion, and the Take It Down Act covers AI-made images too.^[2][14]

What if the images are already posted online?

Ask the platform to remove them. Covered platforms must act within 48 hours of a valid request. Also use NCMEC’s Take It Down tool for images taken before age 18, and report to the CyberTipline.^[5][7][14]

How do I report sextortion on Instagram or Snapchat?

Use the app’s report option on the account or the message, then block the account without deleting the conversation. After that, report to the NCMEC CyberTipline and the FBI. The Instagram and Snapchat safety guides cover each app’s settings.^[1][2]

Related Guides

• Financial Sextortion of Teen Boys
• How to Report Sextortion
• Sextortion Statistics 2026
• The Take It Down Act
• Deepfake Nudes and Nudify Apps
• Sextortion Email Scams
• Kids Online Safety
• Online Safety Check for Parents
• Signs of Online Grooming
• Roblox Predators
• Snapchat Safety for Parents
• Discord Safety for Parents

Sources

1. National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. (n.d.). Sextortion.
2. Federal Bureau of Investigation. (n.d.). Financially Motivated Sextortion.
3. Federal Bureau of Investigation. (2024, January 16). The Financially Motivated Sextortion Threat.
4. Federal Bureau of Investigation. (n.d.). Sextortion: What Kids and Caregivers Need to Know.
5. National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. (n.d.). CyberTipline.
6. National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. (n.d.). CyberTipline Data.
7. National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. (n.d.). Take It Down.
8. Internet Crime Complaint Center. (2023, April 7). For-Profit Companies Charging Sextortion Victims for Assistance and Using Deceptive Tactics to Elicit Payments.
9. National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. (n.d.). NetSmartz: Sextortion.
10. National Child Traumatic Stress Network. (2009, April). What to Do If Your Child Discloses Sexual Abuse: Information for Parents and Caregivers.
11. National Institute of Mental Health. (n.d.). Warning Signs of Suicide.
12. 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. (n.d.). 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.
13. Federal Bureau of Investigation, Internet Crime Complaint Center. (2026). 2025 IC3 Annual Report.
14. TAKE IT DOWN Act, Pub. L. No. 119-12, 139 Stat. 55 (2025). Public Law 119-12.
15. Federal Trade Commission, Consumer Advice. (2026, May). What will the FTC’s enforcement of the TAKE IT DOWN Act mean for you?
16. National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. (n.d.). CyberTipline: What happens to information in a CyberTip?