Someone is threatening to share your private photos

Sextortion is a crime and the blame belongs to the person doing it. Here is where to get help, how to preserve evidence and how to get images removed.

This feels urgent and humiliating, and the person threatening you is counting on both. You did not commit a crime by trusting someone. The person blackmailing you is committing one. People get through this, and free help exists.

If you are in danger or thinking of hurting yourself: in the US, call 911 for immediate danger. Call or text 988 to talk to a counselor at any hour.

In the next few minutes

1. Stop replying. Do not negotiate, argue or send anything more.
2. Hold off on paying. NCMEC, the US center that handles these cases for minors, says to get help before deciding, because cooperating or paying rarely stops the blackmail.
3. Report the account using the platform’s safety feature.
4. Block the account, and keep your profile and messages. NCMEC specifically says not to delete them, because they can help stop the blackmailer.
5. Tell someone you trust. You do not have to manage this alone.

Save the evidence that does not include explicit images: usernames, profile links, payment details and the threats themselves. If you were under 18 in the image, do not save, send or download extra copies of it. Take It Down asks people not to do this, and NCMEC can guide you.

If the image was taken before you were 18

This applies even if you are an adult now.

• Call NCMEC at 1-800-843-5678 (1-800-THE-LOST) or email gethelp@ncmec.org. Staff offer support and can connect families to counseling.
• Report to the CyberTipline at report.cybertip.org. You can report on your own, without a parent.
• Use Take It Down at takeitdown.ncmec.org. It is free and you can stay anonymous. The tool works on your device, and the image is not uploaded. Participating platforms use the fingerprint to find copies on public or unencrypted services.

Talking to a trusted adult helps, whether that means a parent, an aunt or a school counselor. NCMEC can help if you do not have one.

If you were 18 or older in the image

• Use StopNCII.org. It is free and run by a nonprofit, and it creates a fingerprint on your device so participating companies can detect and remove matches. You need to be the person in the image, and you need to still have the image.
• Report to the FBI through ic3.gov, the bureau’s cybercrime intake. The site says to call 911 or local police if someone is in immediate danger. Local police can also take a report, which can help if you know the person.

IC3 warns that it will never contact you directly for information or money. Be careful with anyone who offers to recover images for a fee after you report.

If the image has been posted

A US law called the Take It Down Act took effect for platforms on May 19, 2026. According to the FTC, covered platforms must remove a reported intimate image and known identical copies within 48 hours of a valid request, and they must offer a way to ask, even for people without an account. If a platform misses that deadline or has no working process, report it at takeitdown.ftc.gov.

The steps are in intimate photos shared without consent.

Afterward

Change passwords on the accounts involved, and turn on two-factor authentication. If the person is someone you know and they may have access to your phone, read the page on monitoring before you change anything.

Give yourself some time. Shame is a common reaction to this crime, and the people at these services hear these stories every day.