Sextortion

‘Sextortion' is the short name for 'financially motivated sexual extortion’. It is a type of online blackmail where criminals threaten to share sexual pictures, videos, or information about you. They may be trying to take money from you or forcing you to do something else you don’t want to.

Anyone can be a victim of sextortion. However, young people aged between 15 to 17, and adults aged under 30 are often most at risk.

How to recognise sextortion

Sextortion can be committed by individuals, but organised crime gangs are usually behind it.

Criminals often target people through dating apps, social media, webcams, or pornography sites. They may use a fake identity to befriend you online. If a person you’ve just met online chats to you in a sexual way, or asks for sexual images, it might be an attempt at sextortion.

You should be wary if someone you’ve met online:

• is trying to start a relationship with you very quickly (they may even send you a sexual image first)
• has sent friend requests to lots of people, not just you
• repeatedly asks you to do sexual things that you’re not comfortable with
• tells you they’ve hacked your account or have access to your contacts

Sextortion attempts can happen very quickly, or they can happen over a long time. You should never share sexual images or information about yourself if you are not comfortable.

Tips for protecting yourself

If you are chatting to new people online:

• Review your privacy settings. Criminals are less likely to target you if they can’t see who your friends and family are.
• If you’re not comfortable speaking to the person or being contacted by someone you don’t know, end the chat quickly.
• If you have any doubts about the person or are worried you are being targeted, report it. Alternatively, see ‘Useful links’ further down this page for further advice on staying safe. This includes knowing how to report or remove images from the web.

What to do if you've been targeted

If you are a victim of sextortion, it’s not your fault. There is help and support available.

• Don’t panic, help and support is available.
• Stop all communication with the offender immediately.
• Don’t pay, even if you are tempted, as there is no guarantee that this will stop the threats.
• Save the evidence:
  
  • make a note of usernames, email addresses, phone numbers and bank account numbers
• Collect URL links to where your images or information is being shared online.

Most social media sites have rules against sharing intimate content without consent. You should be able to get the material removed.

If you’ve paid the person, consider telling your bank. They may not be able to get any money back but it helps us and the banks to know it’s happened.

Report it

We understand that it might be difficult to report this type of crime to us. We're here to listen and support you in any way we can.

You can report intimate image abuse to us:

• online
• by calling 101
• if you have a hearing or speech impairment, use our textphone service on 18001 101
• if you are under 18, you can report sextortion, or any other form of online child sexual abuse, to the National Crime Agency’s Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Safety Centre

Useful links

Adults

Revenge Porn Online gives free, confidential help to victims living in the UK.

Stop NCII (Non-Consensual Intimate Image Abuse) is a free tool to help detect and remove images from being shared online.

Samaritans is a free, confidential listening service for any issue.

Get safe online provides factual and easy to understand information on online safety.

Children and young people

Report Remove allows you to confidentially report sexual images and videos of yourself and get them removed from the internet.

Childline gives free, confidential support for young people under the age of 19.

Young Minds is a mental health charity for children and young people with 24 hours a day, seven days a week text support.

Child Exploitation and Online Protection Command (CEOP) Education gives advice for parents, children, and young people on staying safe from sexual abuse and online grooming.

Other help

National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) can help if you’ve been the victim of phishing or hacking, or need advice on protecting your data online.

Action Fraud – Romance Fraud can help if you think a partner you met online is trying to get money from you but isn’t threatening or extorting you. This is known as ‘romance fraud’.