Sextortion
Anyone can experience sexual extortion, you are not alone and you have not done anything wrong.
Remember, it is not your fault.
Sextortion
You’re the victim of organized criminals and confidential support is available. You can get through this.
Sextortion - Table of Contents
Sextortion definition
What is sextortion?
- Simply put sextortion is blackmail. It’s when someone online threatens to send a sexual image or video of you to other people if you don’t pay the person or provide more sexual content.
(Canadian Centre for Child Protection Inc.)
- The practice of forcing someone to do something, particularly to perform sexual acts, by threatening to publish naked pictures of them or sexual information about them:
Sextortion is a crime of the digital age.
(Cambridge dictionary)
- Extortion in which a perpetrator threatens to expose sexually compromising information (such as sexually explicit private images or videos of the victim) unless the victim meets certain demands
Sextortion is when an online predator tricks someone into giving them nude images or videos, and then demands money, more images, or makes other demands—threatening to share the images with the victim’s friends and family if they don’t comply.
(Merriam-Webster dictionary)
- ‘Sextortion’ is a form of blackmail. It involves threatening to publish sexual information, photos or videos about someone. This may be to extort money or to force the victim to do something against their will. Photos or recordings are often made without the victim realising or consenting.
(Metropolitan police) - Sextortion occurs when an adult, through threat or manipulation, coerces a minor into producing a sexually explicit image and sending it over the Internet. (F.B.I.)
- Sexual extortion – sometimes called ‘sextortion’ – is a form of blackmail where someone threatens to share intimate images of you online unless you give in to their demands. These demands are typically for money, more intimate images or sexual favours. Blackmailers often target people through dating apps, social media, webcams or adult pornography sites. While sexual extortion can be used by individuals, organised crime is often behind it when the blackmailer demands money.
(e- Safety, Australia’s independent regulator for online safety)
How does the sextortion occur?
The individuals carrying out this crime are skilled and ruthless and have honed their techniques and approaches to maximize their chances at success. The entry point to a young person can be any number of mobile or online sites, applications, or games. The approach may come as compliments or flattery or the pretense of beginning a romantic relationship.
Another entry point is to offer the child something they value in exchange for a taking a quick picture. This could be the possibility of a modeling contract; online game credits or codes; or money, cryptocurrency, and gift cards.
The third common point of entry is to go right to threats by either claiming they already have an image of the young person that they will distribute or threatening to harm the child or other people or things the child cares about.
Once the perpetrator has the first image, they use the threat of exposure or other harm to keep the child producing more and more explicit material.
A general example of how sextortion occurs:
- Youth (males in particular) are often deceived into believing they are communicating with a young female. The contact occurs over a short period of time, in most cases over several hours but in some cases as little as 20 minutes.
- It involves an exchange of sexual content, with the “female” often sharing first. In many cases the youth is tricked into sending a sexual photo or video but the youth may also be tricked into exposing themselves or engaging in a sexual act over a livestream and being recorded without their knowledge.
- Almost immediately, the extorter then demands money. The extorter threatens to leak the content online and/or share with the youth’s friends/family if they don’t comply. It is common for the offender to share screen captures of the youth’s contacts or other identifying information (school, home address) to terrify the youth so they agree to send money.
- If the youth complies, the extorter will demand more money be paid. The extorters will sometimes barter and accept a lower amount if the youth says they cannot pay. Amounts of money demanded range from as little as $9 (the amount a youth had in their bank account) to $ thousands.
- Payment demands are in a number of forms, including requests for money through online payment providers like PayPal, Venmo, Cash App, etc.; through online gift cards for Amazon, Google Play, Steam, VISA, etc.; or through e-transfer direct from bank accounts.
Other tactics used by sex extorters
- Offering youth a prize in the initial contact — win money if they send a sexual image/video.
- Youth being targeted after an older sibling, or a friend had been contacted by the same extorter.
- If initially not complying, the extorter can become more aggressive (e.g. threatening to ruin the teen’s life).
- Creating more than one account to make it seem like more than one person is targeting the youth.
- Demanding youth create other accounts on social media for the extorters use in victimizing further youth.
- Threats to share the sexual image/video with a school or many schools.
- Creating newspaper articles with false claims about the youth abusing young children.
- Threats to share the sexual image/video with newspapers, news outlets and TV stations.
What can you do to reduce the likelihood of sextortion happening?
Here are some tips:
Be sensible when using the internet. Only activate your camera when you want to. Make sure it is ‘off’ at all times when not required. Never allow yourself to be duped into activity that you will later regret.
If using video chat apps, be alert to the fact that ‘contacts’ are not always who they say they are. If you allow a relationship to develop be guarded if unusual requests are made of you.
If you use online chat rooms looking for a person to chat with, be careful. Be careful about any getting into a relationship and if you are asked to move to a different chat platform.
Some online chat rooms have a visual contact facility. If you are looking for a person to chat with and get into a relationship, be guarded on what you say and do.
Relationships are quick to develop. End any that you are not comfortable with. Stay in control of what you do.
You may make mistakes, have doubts or need support or advice. If so, contact the police or a support agency immediately.
Remember, what goes on the internet stays on the internet, forever.
What are the warning signs?
Something does not add up — their online profile is not consistent with what you see and hear when you talk or chat with them.
It happens too fast — they express strong emotions for you almost straight away, and quickly tempt you across to a more private channel, suggesting you get nude or sexual in a video call.
They make excuses — they say their webcam is not working and instead send a nude photo which they claim is of them.
They say they need help —
How to protect young people from sextortion
Information-sharing and open lines of communication are the best defense. Young people need to know this crime is happening and understand where the risks are hiding. Explain to the children in your life that people can pretend to be anyone or anything online, a stranger reaching out to them online may be doing so with bad intent, and no matter what the platform or application claims, nothing “disappears” online. If they take a photo or video, it always has the potential to become public.
You may choose to place certain limits on your children’s Internet use or spot check their phones and other devices to see what applications they are using and with whom they are communicating. This can be part of an open and ongoing conversation about what it and is not appropriate online. It also may be worth considering a rule against devices in bedrooms overnight or shutting off Wi-Fi access in the overnight hours. Caregivers may also want to review the settings on a young person’s social media accounts with them. Keeping accounts private can prevent predators from gathering their personal information.
The other crucial element is to keep the door open to your children so that they know they can come to you and ask for help. Let them know that your first move will be to help—always. These predators are powerful because of fear, and the victims suffer ever more negative consequences as the crime carries on over days, weeks, and months.
If you are the adult a child trusts with this information, comfort them, help them understand they have been the victim of a crime, and help them report it to law enforcement.
The cycle of victimization continues because the child is afraid—afraid of the repercussions threatened by the criminal and afraid they will be in trouble with their parents, guardians, or law enforcement. By the time a child is a victim, they have done something that may be generating deep feelings of shame and embarrassment. The criminal may also be telling them they have produced child pornography and will be prosecuted for it. In addition, they may fear their access to their phone or computer will be taken away from them as a result of their actions.
I am victim of sextortion
- Report sexual extortion
- Sexual extortion can be devastating, so it’s important to get help.
- Visit our helpline page to find out where you can get support, depending on where you live.
- You may also want to consider reporting to local police.
- Do not pay
- Do not give them any money or send any more pictures of yourself. Giving in to demands will actually make things worse — paying a blackmailer will only result in more demands for payment.
- Collect evidence
- Keep a record of all contact from the blackmailer, particularly any demands or threats and make a note of everything you know about them. This could include their Skype name and ID, Facebook URL and Money Transfer Control Number (MTCN). Have a look at how to collect evidence page.
- Notify the relevant social media platform
- Notify Skype, YouTube, or whichever app or social media service was used. Read helpful tips about reporting image-based abuse to social media platforms on our website and find direct reporting links.
- Stop all contact with the blackmailer
- Block them and ask your friends to do the same. Consider temporarily deactivating your social media accounts (but do not delete them as you may lose evidence that way).
- Secure your accounts
- Change the passwords for your social media and online accounts and review the privacy and security settings of your accounts.
- Do not panic
- Reach out instead — get support from a trusted friend or family member, or from an expert counselling and support service if you are feeling anxious or stressed
What if I’ve already paid the blackmailer?
You may be able to cancel the money transfer if you act quickly. Blackmailers usually request the ‘cash pick up’ option and sometimes collect the money within minutes of the transaction, so you need to be quick.
The links below provide information on how to cancel money transfers for international money transfer sites commonly used by blackmailers. If you transferred money from your bank account, contact your bank to see if they can help.
If you are experiencing image-based abuse or ‘revenge porn’, here are tips for removing intimate images and video.
There are two main ways to remove images and video:
- Report an image or video to Police
- Report an image to the website or social media service it is posted on
Is someone threatening to share an image of you?
- If someone threatens to share an intimate image of you, report it.
- If they ask for money, sexual favors or more intimate images, it is sexual extortion.
- Collect evidence
- Before taking steps to have images and video removed, it is important to collect evidence. You may need this evidence to report to the police. Find advice on how to take a screenshot on Mac, Windows, Android or Apple devices like iPhones or iPads.
- Stay safe. If you are feeling unsafe now, call the police.
- If you are experiencing image-based abuse as part of an abusive relationship, check helpline sector in order to find support in your country.
Report an image to the website or social media service it is posted on
If the image-based abuse is part of domestic and family violence or other abuse, staying safe is your number one priority.
Staying safe. Your safety is important. If you are experiencing domestic or family violence, before taking steps to get the images removed, make sure you have a safety plan in place. Especially if the person responsible is also abusive offline. If you do not already have a safety plan, contact someone for help with safety planning. Safety planning is important to protect you in case the person responsible gets more abusive once the image or video is removed or the account is deleted.
Most mainstream websites and social media services have policies that ban nude or sexual images that have been shared without consent.
Many of these sites offer ways to report nude or sexual images and request their removal.
Report to popular sites or services with removal policies
After you report to the site, the site may remove the content straight away. They may also take steps against the account holder, such as suspending their account or even deleting it.
Sometimes a service may ask you for proof that you are the person in the picture, for example, by sending them a scanned copy of your ID. If you are uncomfortable with providing ID to the service, consider reporting to us instead so that we can get the image or video removed on your behalf.
The site or service your image is posted on does not have a removal policy
If your image is on a site that does not seem to have a way to report image-based abuse, check their policies and terms of use thoroughly. These are usually located in the footer of websites.
Check for any rules that address nudity, harassment, non-consensual sharing of images or image-based abuse, and find out if they have a process to report that content. If there are no policies, it is not advisable to contact the site or service.
If you decide to contact the site yourself, we recommend you create an email address specifically for this purpose that does not give your identity away (somethingelse@email.com). Also, under no circumstances give the site any personal information and if the site asks you for ID, do not provide it and report to police instead.
Beware of revenge porn sites
Unfortunately, some ‘revenge porn’ sites are set up to embarrass and abuse people. If you read through comments on these sites, you will often see a large amount of abuse left unchecked. This is a sign that the sites are not properly moderated or are designed to encourage abuse.
Some of these sites charge money to remove images — this is known as sextortion — while others seek to further humiliate the people in the images by posting their personal details, email addresses and removal requests. If an intimate image or video of you is posted on a revenge porn site, make a report to police.
Preserving evidence
It is a good idea to collect evidence of the image-based abuse before you take any steps to have the images or video removed. Screenshots are a common way to collect evidence.
You will need to collect evidence if you wish to make a report to the police or take legal action.
Many sites will send you a reply once you report, sometimes with a case number. Keep this as evidence too.
You will find more options for support and counselling services in the Helplines section of this website.
If someone is threatening to share your nude image or video:
- Immediately stop all communication. Deactivate (but don’t delete) any of the accounts you are using to communicate with the individual.
- DO NOT comply with the threat. In other words, never pay money and never send additional nudes. The situation will NOT get better by doing either of these things. If the youth has paid money, check to see if it has been collected and, if not, quickly cancel the payment.
- Reach out for help and report it. Tell an adult who can help. Contact for support or report what has happened to police in your jurisdiction.
- Dealing with sextortion is too big for the youth to manage on their own.
- Keep the correspondence. Keep information such as the person’s username(s), social media account information, a copy of the communications, along with any images and/or videos that were sent.
What to do if you receive an intimate image or video via a direct message, text, AirDrop or email.
If the image or video is of you
If someone has shared a nude or sexual image or video of you without your consent, it’s called image-based abuse. This is illegal.
Threatening to share your intimate image online without your consent is also image-based abuse. Do not give in to the threats.
The intimate image can be a real photo or video, or a fake that has been made to look like you. Or it can be an image of you without religious or cultural attire that you usually wear in public.
If you are over 18 years of age in the picture or video, take screenshots of the message. Do not take a screenshot if you are 18 years or under in the image or video. Find out more about taking screenshots.
If you received the image or threat via email, keep the email as evidence.
Report the image-based abuse.
Block the sender’s number or account to stop them contacting you again.
There are criminal laws that deal with image-based abuse. Find out what the law is in your state or territory.
If the image or video is of someone else
If you receive an unwelcome message or email that includes an intimate image or video of someone else, it is called unwanted contact.
Unwelcome intimate images can be of male, female or transgender bodies. Sometimes intimate images of male bodies are called ‘dick pics’.
Take screenshots of the message you received (unless it shows a nude or sexual image or video of someone who is 18 years or under, which is illegal).
If you received the image via email, keep the email as evidence.
Report the sender to the host platform or service that was used to send the message or email (for example, the social media site, gaming app, phone or email service).
Block the person’s number or account to stop them contacting you again.
