It happens fast. You meet someone online, things get personal, and then suddenly they’re threatening to send your photos or videos to your friends, family, or the whole internet unless you do what they say. Maybe they want money. Maybe they want more photos. Maybe they want something else entirely.
That’s called sextortion — and it’s a federal crime, as well as a crime under many state laws.
The FBI has seen a massive increase in these cases, especially involving teenagers and kids. These predators are often professionals at this. They know exactly how to make you feel trapped, embarrassed, and alone. They’re counting on you being too scared to tell anyone. That’s literally their whole strategy.
Don’t comply. Don’t send money. Don’t send more photos. Because here’s the truth: giving them what they want almost never makes them go away. It just proves the tactic works, and they’ll keep pushing.
The right move is to report it. You can report to the FBI at tips.fbi.gov or ic3.gov. You can also report to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) at cybertipline.org — they specialize in helping minors in exactly this situation. Tell a parent, guardian, or another trusted adult too — not because you’re in trouble, but because you need backup and you deserve it.
The FBI also notes that some of these predators threaten to harm your friends or relatives using information they’ve obtained from your electronic devices. It’s designed to make you feel like there’s no way out. There is. Reporting is that way out.
You didn’t do anything wrong by trusting someone. The person doing the threatening is the criminal here — not you.