Sextortion and Blackmail Scams: What to Do When Threatened

Security Education: This article describes cyber threats for defensive awareness and education purposes only. Understanding how attacks work helps organizations and individuals protect themselves. Never use this information for unauthorized access or malicious purposes.

Sextortion scams use threats of exposure to extort money from victims. The FBI reported a 322 percent increase in sextortion reports involving minors between 2021 and 2023, and adults are targeted in massive email campaigns claiming to have compromising material. These scams cause genuine psychological distress, and understanding how they work is essential to responding effectively.

How Email Sextortion Scams Work

You receive an email claiming the sender hacked your computer, activated your webcam, and recorded you watching adult content. They may include one of your real passwords (obtained from a data breach) as “proof” that they accessed your device. The email demands payment, typically $1,000 to $5,000 in Bitcoin, within 48 hours or the video will be sent to all your contacts.

This is a mass-mailed bluff. No video exists. The sender has no access to your computer or webcam. They obtained your email and an old password from a publicly available data breach and use it to make the threat seem credible. Millions of these emails are sent, and even a tiny percentage of victims who pay generates substantial profit.

Targeted Sextortion

A more dangerous form involves actual contact with the victim. The scammer, often posing as an attractive person on social media or dating apps, builds a connection and eventually convinces the victim to share intimate photos or engage in video chat. Once they have compromising material, they threaten to distribute it unless the victim pays. In some cases, they have already identified the victim’s family, friends, and employer through social media and make specific threats about sending the material to named individuals.

This form targets adults but has become a severe crisis among teenagers. Criminal networks operating primarily from West Africa and Southeast Asia target minors through Instagram, Snapchat, and gaming platforms, extracting intimate images and demanding payment within hours. The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children reported a dramatic increase in these cases, with some resulting in victims taking their own lives.

What To Do

Do not pay. Paying does not make the threat go away; it marks you as someone willing to pay, leading to escalating demands. The FBI confirms that paying sextortion demands results in continued extortion in the majority of cases.

Do not engage. Do not reply to the sender. Do not negotiate. Any response confirms your email is active and you are reading the threats.

For email sextortion with an old password: Change the compromised password everywhere it was used. The password in the email confirms your credentials were in a data breach, but nothing more. No video exists.

For targeted sextortion with actual material: Report to the FBI’s IC3 (ic3.gov), the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (if the victim is a minor), and local law enforcement. Preserve all communications as evidence. Report the account on the social media platform.

Block the sender on all platforms. Many victims report that scammers do not follow through on threats even without payment, particularly if the victim ceases contact.

For more on the psychology of how these threats work, see our phishing psychology guide. To protect your webcam from actual compromise, explore our webcam and microphone security guide.

Support Resources

For adults: Report to the FBI’s IC3 at ic3.gov. The Cyber Civil Rights Initiative (cybercivilrights.org) provides resources for victims of non-consensual intimate imagery. Many states have laws specifically criminalizing sextortion.

For minors: Report to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) at missingkids.org/gethelpnow or by calling 1-800-843-5678. Report to the FBI. The Crisis Text Line is available by texting HOME to 741741. Parents should know that sextortion targeting minors is a law enforcement priority, and reporting leads to investigations that have resulted in numerous arrests and convictions.