It usually starts with a compliment and ends with a threat within the hour. Speed is the whole trick - so is knowing what to do before it happens. Sextortion usually starts with a new account - often posing as someone your age - being flattering and moving the conversation toward something explicit fast. Within minutes of getting an image or video, the tone flips: a screenshot of your contact list, a countdown, a payment demand. It happens fast on purpose, because panic makes people comply before they think.
If you are in immediate danger, stop reading and call your local emergency number now - 911 in the US and Canada, 999 in the UK and Ireland, 000 in Australia, 111 in New Zealand, or 112 across most of Europe.
Paying does not make it stop. Scammers who get paid almost always come back asking for more, because paying proves you'll pay. The scam depends entirely on you staying panicked and silent - so the fastest way to disarm it is to stop being either.
If you're a minor, or the person being targeted is a minor, this is exploitation, and reporting it is not the same as getting in trouble. The note above has the reporting line for your country - use it.
Services and numbers change over time. If one of these is wrong or missing for your country, telling us is worth more than anything else on this page.
The National Domestic Violence Hotline is 1-800-799-7233, or text START to 88788, 24/7 and confidential (thehotline.org). To report a child being groomed or exploited online, contact the NCMEC CyberTipline at 1-800-843-5678 or CyberTipline.org. For a mental-health crisis, call or text 988; call 911 for immediate danger.
Kids Help Phone supports anyone up to 29, day or night, at 1-800-668-6868 or by texting CONNECT to 686868. For domestic violence, your province runs its own helpline - search "[your province] domestic violence helpline" or call 211 to be connected. Call or text 988 for a mental-health crisis; call 911 for immediate danger.
Refuge runs the UK's National Domestic Abuse Helpline free, 24/7, at 0808 2000 247. For a child at risk, call the NSPCC helpline at 0808 800 5000, or Childline at 0800 1111 if you're the young person. Report online grooming to CEOP at ceop.police.uk. Samaritans (116 123) will listen any time; call 999 for immediate danger.
1800RESPECT is Australia's national sexual assault and domestic/family violence counselling line, 24/7, at 1800 737 732. Kids Helpline is 1800 55 1800. Report online grooming or exploitation to the eSafety Commissioner (esafety.gov.au) or ThinkUKnow. Lifeline (13 11 14) offers crisis support; call 000 for immediate danger.
Women's Refuge runs a crisis line 24/7 at 0800 733 843. Netsafe (netsafe.org.nz) takes reports of online grooming and harm. For general crisis support, call or text 1737 any time. Call 111 for immediate danger.
Women's Aid runs a 24-hour National Freephone Helpline at 1800 341 900. The Rape Crisis Centre's national helpline is 1800 77 8888, and Childline (ISPCC) is 1800 66 66 66 for children and young people. Report child sexual abuse material online at Hotline.ie. Call 112 or 999 for immediate danger.
There isn't one worldwide number, so use a directory you can trust: Befrienders Worldwide (befrienders.org) lists real crisis lines by country, and Child Helpline International (childhelplineinternational.org) does the same for children and teens. If you or someone else is in immediate danger, contact your local emergency number right now.
No. Paying confirms the threat works, funds the same crime against the next person, and rarely ends it. The overwhelming pattern is that a payment is followed by another demand, not by the problem going away.
Stop replying, do not send anything else, and screenshot everything before it can be deleted, including the account name and the threat itself. Then block, report on the platform, and tell one person you trust.
Often, yes. StopNCII.org and NCMEC's Take It Down can stop an image spreading across participating platforms without you having to send the image itself. Both are free.
You are the victim of a crime here. If you are a minor, adults who receive those images are the ones who broke the law, not you. Fear of being blamed is exactly the lever the scam pulls, and it is the reason it keeps working.
It is still worth reporting, still worth using the takedown tools, and still survivable. The exposure you are dreading shrinks fast the moment other people know and are on your side.
AI can now put your face on an image you never took. The violation is real even when the picture technically isn't.
The feelings you had were real. The person on the other end may not have been.
Your name, address, or workplace posted for strangers to see. Here's what to do in the first hour, and after.
Hotline advocates spend most of their time talking with people still working out whether their situation counts. You are allowed to call to think out loud.