Someone is sextorting me or my child and threatening to send our nudes to everyone. What do we do?

Question

Someone is sextorting me or my child and threatening to send our nudes to everyone. What do we do?

Accepted Answer

Do not pay and do not delete anything. NCMEC's guidance is to report the account on the platform, block the person, and keep your profile and messages: cooperating or paying rarely stops the blackmail, and the messages are evidence. If the person targeted is under 18, report to NCMEC's CyberTipline at report.cybertip.org or 1-800-843-5678; adults can report to the FBI at ic3.gov or 1-800-CALL-FBI. Threatening to publish an intimate image is a federal crime under Section 2 of the TAKE IT DOWN Act, punishable by up to 18 months in prison when the victim is an adult and up to 30 months when the victim is a minor. To stop the images spreading, use NCMEC's free Take It Down service for images taken before age 18 (StopNCII.org for adults): it creates a hash on your own device, the image is never uploaded, and participating platforms use the hash to find and remove copies. If anything is posted, a valid request under Section 3 obliges a covered platform to remove it and known copies within 48 hours, and a parent or other authorized person can send it for a minor. Ignore companies selling "sextortion help"; the FBI says law enforcement and nonprofits do this at no charge. Build the request at https://takeitdown.agentexchange.work/request/takedown (free; you send it, the deadline is tracked).

Someone is sextorting me or my child and threatening to send our nudes to everyone. What do we do?

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