What Is Sextortion and What Should You Do?
Sextortion is a form of blackmail involving sexual or intimate images, videos or information.
The person responsible threatens to distribute the material unless the victim pays money, provides further intimate content, continues communicating or complies with another demand.
The material may be genuine, stolen, secretly recorded, manipulated or entirely fabricated. An offender does not need to possess an authentic photograph or video to create a credible and distressing threat.
Anyone can experience sextortion. Offenders commonly approach victims through social media, dating apps, gaming platforms and private messaging services.
Victims are not responsible for the offender’s threats or criminal behaviour. The immediate priorities are to preserve appropriate evidence, avoid providing further material, secure affected accounts and seek support.
How does sextortion begin?
Sextortion often begins with an apparently genuine social, romantic or sexual interaction.
The offender may use a false identity, stolen photographs and fabricated personal information to build trust. They may move the conversation from a public platform to a private messaging service and encourage an exchange of intimate material.
Once an image, video or sexual conversation has been obtained, the tone can change suddenly.
The offender may reveal that they have saved or recorded the content. They may then display screenshots of the victim’s relatives, friends, colleagues or social-media contacts to demonstrate where it could be sent.
A typical approach may involve:
- Creating a convincing false profile.
- Starting a friendly, romantic or sexual conversation.
- Moving the interaction to a private messaging or video platform.
- Encouraging the victim to share intimate material.
- Saving or recording the content without permission.
- Threatening to distribute it unless a demand is met.
- Increasing the demand after the victim complies.
Some offenders target many people using similar scripts. Others research a particular person’s family, employment, education or community before making contact.
Some financially motivated sextortion offences are linked to organised groups operating overseas. The National Crime Agency has warned that, in certain cases involving children, offenders have progressed from initial contact to blackmail in under an hour. This speed is deliberate: it creates panic before the victim has time to speak to someone, preserve relevant evidence or seek advice.
More recent Report Remove data also demonstrates the scale of the problem. In 2025, the service processed 1,894 reports from children and young people, a 66% increase from the previous year. Of the reports involving imagery assessed as illegal, 394 contained indications of sexually coerced extortion. Boys, particularly those aged 14 to 17, accounted for 98% of the sextortion-related reports. Increased awareness of Report Remove may have contributed to higher reporting, so the figures should not be interpreted solely as a direct measure of offending levels..
What material may be used in a sextortion threat?
Material shared during a conversation
A victim may have shared a photograph or participated in a video call believing the interaction was private.
The offender may save the image, record the call or use another device to capture the screen. Material that appears to disappear automatically within an app may still be copied.
Stolen photographs or videos
Intimate material may be obtained through:
- A compromised email account.
- Unauthorised access to cloud storage.
- A stolen or previously shared device.
- An old social-media account.
- A former relationship.
- Malicious software or account takeover.
Where account compromise is suspected, changing one password may not be sufficient. Active sessions, connected devices and account-recovery details should also be reviewed.
Secret recordings
A person may record a private conversation, video call or intimate encounter without the victim’s knowledge.
Where the offender has met the victim, knows their location or demands an in-person meeting, the matter may involve additional stalking, coercion or personal-safety risks.
AI-generated and manipulated material
An offender does not always need a genuine intimate image.
Public photographs may be manipulated to create synthetic sexual content. Fabricated messages, altered screenshots, cloned voices and deepfake videos may also be used to make a threat appear credible.
The fact that material is false does not mean the threat should be ignored. Preserve the communication and obtain advice before responding publicly or confronting the suspected offender.
Financial and coercive sextortion
In financially motivated sextortion, the offender threatens to release nude or semi-nude material unless money or another financial benefit is provided. The image may be genuine or fabricated.
Payment may be requested through:
- Bank transfer.
- Cryptocurrency.
- Gift cards.
- Money-transfer services.
- Accounts controlled by third parties.
- Several accounts in different names or countries.
Not every demand is financial. An offender may instead demand:
- Further photographs or videos.
- Sexual activity.
- An in-person meeting.
- Access to accounts or devices.
- Continued communication.
- Personal information about another person.
- Participation in illegal or harmful activity.
Where the demand involves physical contact, sexual coercion, a child or threats of violence, contact the police.
What are the warning signs?
Warning signs may include:
- A new contact becoming sexual very quickly.
- Pressure to move to a private or encrypted service.
- An unwillingness to appear clearly on a live video call.
- Images that appear reused, inconsistent or unusually polished.
- Conflicting details about the person’s age, location or background.
- Requests to show your face and intimate body parts in the same recording.
- Unexpected screenshots of relatives, friends or colleagues.
- Claims that several people must be paid.
- Threats to contact a school, employer, partner or family member.
A convincing profile does not confirm that the identity is genuine. Photographs and personal details can be stolen or fabricated.
What should you do if you are being sextorted?
Preserve appropriate evidence
Do not immediately delete the conversation or account.
Preserve:
- Complete message histories.
- Usernames, account names and profile links.
- Telephone numbers and email addresses.
- Payment demands and deadlines.
- Bank details or cryptocurrency wallet addresses.
- Voice notes and call records.
- Screenshots showing intended disclosure targets.
- Details of any payment already made.
- A chronology of how the interaction developed.
Where everyone depicted is known to be an adult, preserve relevant communications without circulating the material unnecessarily.
Where an image may involve someone under 18, do not screenshot, record, download or share the sexual image. Police guidance warns that possessing or sharing it could itself create legal problems. Preserve the surrounding messages, usernames and account details, then seek police advice about handling the content.
Do not provide further material
An offender may claim that one more image, video or payment will result in deletion of the existing material.
There is no reliable way to verify that promise.
Do not provide:
- Additional intimate content.
- Identity documents.
- Passwords or security codes.
- Remote access to a device.
- Information about relatives or colleagues.
- Access to social-media contact lists.
Further compliance may provide the offender with additional leverage.
Secure affected accounts
Take proportionate security measures:
- Change passwords on relevant accounts.
- Use a unique password for each service.
- Enable multi-factor authentication.
- Review active sessions and connected devices.
- Remove unfamiliar recovery details.
- Check email-forwarding rules.
- Review cloud-storage permissions.
- Restrict public access to contact lists and personal information.
- Preserve relevant login records where available.
- Seek cyber-security support if compromise is suspected.
Separate technical assessment may be required where there are signs that a device, email account or cloud-storage service has been accessed.
Tell someone you trust
Sextortion relies heavily on shame, fear and isolation.
Speaking to a trusted relative, friend, solicitor, safeguarding professional or specialist adviser can reduce the pressure and help prevent rushed decisions.
A child or young person should not be left to manage the situation alone.
Should you pay a sextortion demand?
Payment does not guarantee that the material will be deleted or that the threats will end.
The offender may:
- Increase the amount demanded.
- Return after a short period.
- Claim another person also requires payment.
- Transfer the victim’s details to another offender.
- Threaten a different group of contacts.
- Publish the material despite receiving money.
Every situation has different safety, legal and reputational risks. Decisions about payment or continued communication should be made carefully and, where appropriate, with police, legal or specialist advice.
Keep a record of all payment instructions. Where money has already been sent, contact the relevant bank or payment provider promptly.
What about sextortion scam emails?
Some emails claim that the sender has accessed the recipient’s webcam, recorded visits to adult websites or stolen private files.
The message may quote a password or personal detail obtained from an earlier data breach to make the claim appear credible.
A password in the message does not automatically prove that the sender has accessed the recipient’s device or recorded intimate material.
Instead:
- Change the password wherever it remains in use.
- Enable multi-factor authentication.
- Check accounts for unfamiliar activity.
- Preserve the threatening email.
- Report it through the appropriate route.
- Seek technical advice where there is separate evidence of compromise.
A threat containing genuine recent material or evidence of unauthorised access should be assessed differently from a generic email using information exposed in an older breach.
When should sextortion be reported?
Consider reporting the matter where:
- Money or another benefit is being demanded.
- Intimate material is being threatened or distributed.
- A child or vulnerable person is involved.
- The offender demands sexual activity or further images.
- There is a threat of violence or physical contact.
- The offender knows the victim’s address or location.
- Accounts or devices appear to have been compromised.
- The conduct is escalating or continuing.
- A payment has already been made.
Sextortion can be reported to the police. Where there is an immediate danger to life or a threat of violence, call 999. The account should also be reported to the platform on which the conduct occurred.
What if the victim is under 18?
Sextortion involving a child should be treated as a safeguarding and child-protection matter.
A parent or responsible adult should:
- Remain calm and avoid blaming the child.
- Reassure them that asking for help was correct.
- Preserve messages, usernames and account details.
- Avoid downloading, forwarding or copying sexual imagery.
- Report the matter to the police or appropriate safeguarding service.
- Notify the platform involved.
- Consider whether there is an immediate physical or emotional risk.
- Seek appropriate wellbeing support.
Young people may fear punishment, embarrassment or the loss of access to their devices. A supportive response makes it more likely that they will explain the full circumstances.
How specialist support may assist
A structured response may include:
- Reviewing the demand and threatened consequences.
- Organising communications and payment information.
- Assessing online identities, aliases and public activity.
- Reviewing connections between profiles or payment identifiers.
- Supporting a controlled communication strategy.
- Coordinating with solicitors and cyber-security specialists.
- Preparing a chronology for police or legal advisers.
- Monitoring for further contact or publication.
Private investigators cannot compel platforms, banks or telecommunications providers to release confidential subscriber information.
It may not be possible to confirm who controls an anonymous account, establish that every copy of the material has been deleted or guarantee that further contact will stop.
For broader guidance, read What to Do If You Are Being Blackmailed in the UK.
Conflict International’s Blackmail and Extortion Resolution Services support individuals, families and organisations facing intimate-image threats, financial demands and sensitive online coercion.
Take the next step
The immediate priorities are:
- Preserving appropriate evidence.
- Avoiding further payments or intimate material.
- Securing relevant accounts and devices.
- Telling someone trusted.
- Assessing physical and safeguarding risks.
- Reporting criminal or urgent concerns.
- Developing a proportionate response.
If you or someone close to you is facing sextortion or threatened disclosure of intimate material, contact Conflict International in confidence to discuss the evidence, immediate risks and appropriate next steps.