Sextortion: Laws, Penalties, and Help for Victims

In December 2022, the FBI issued a national public safety alert about an "explosion" in incidents of sextortion. Reports of sextortion to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCME) more than doubled from 2022 to 2023 (from 10,731 to 26,718).

Sextortion is a crime. Most victims are children and teens. Here's an overview of how states and the federal government are combating sextortion and resources for victims.

What Is Sextortion?

Sextortion is a form of sexual exploitation that happens when perpetrators threaten to share sexual images of victims (often minors) to get them to do something like send money, gift cards, or more sexual photos and videos.

How Do Perpetrators Get Sexual Images of Victims?

Perpetrators, who may know their victims in real life or interact with them only online, use different methods to get sexual images of their victims, including:

• Manipulation. Perpetrators often connect with victims through social media, gaming platforms, or dating apps. They build trust until they can convince (or coerce) their victims to share nude photos. Or, a perpetrator might convince someone who knows the victim, such as a classmate at school, to share an intimate image.
• Hacking. Some perpetrators hack into their victims' devices and phones and steal images.
• Revenge porn. Disgruntled ex-partners sometimes threaten to share private sexual images without consent.
• Deepfakes. Increasingly, perpetrators don't even have to get their hands on an actual nude image or video. Instead, they use AI to create explicit deepfake images.

What Is Financial Sextortion?

According to Thorn, a technology nonprofit dedicated to combatting child sexual abuse, girls were historically more likely than boys to be victims of sextortion. Sextortionists were more likely to know their victims offline and make personal demands—for more images, sexual acts, or to stay in a relationship.

Since 2022, however, researchers have reported a dramatic rise in financial sextortion. Financial sextortion involves demands for money and overwhelmingly targets boys and young men. According to Thorn, 90% of victims who reported sextortion to the NCME CyberTipline between August 2020 and August 2023 were teen boys. Perpetrators in these cases are less likely to know their victims offline. According to the FBI, a "large percentage of financial sextortion schemes originate outside of the United States and primarily in West African countries such as Nigeria and Ivory Coast."

Is Sextortion a Crime?

Sexual extortion is a crime. Several states have enacted laws specifically targeting sexual extortion, while others prosecute these acts as extortion, sexting, revenge porn, or child pornography, depending on the age of the victim.

There is currently no federal law that specifically addresses sextortion. Instead, depending on the facts of the case, federal prosecutors typically charge sextortionists with some combination of statutes prohibiting:

• the sexual exploitation of children
• child pornography
• blackmail
• extortion
• stalking
• hacking
• wire fraud, and
• money laundering.

(18 U.S.C. § 2251; 18 U.S.C. § 2252; 18 U.S.C. § 873; 18 U.S.C. § 875; 18 U.S.C. § 2261A; 18 U.S.C. §1030; 18 U.S.C. § 1343; 18 U.S.C. § 1956 (2024).)

What Are the Penalties for Sextortion?

The punishment for sextortion varies dramatically based on whether the victim is an adult or child and whether the case is prosecuted on the federal or state level.

Federal Penalties

In federal court, for example, sextortion crimes against adult victims are often charged with garden variety extortion, which carries a maximum punishment of two years in prison. Sextortionists who target minor victims, on the other hand, are charged with producing, possessing, or distributing child pornography. Federal penalties for child pornography-related federal crimes vary from a minimum of five to 40 years in prison.

(18 U.S.C.§ 875(d); 18 U.S.C. § 2251(d);18 U.S.C. § 2252(b) (2024).)

State Penalties

Each state has its own penalties for sextortion. Pennsylvania has a specific sexual extortion law. Penalties there range from a first-degree misdemeanor (up to five years prison) for a first offense involving an adult victim to a third-degree felony (up to seven years prison) for cases involving victims who are under 18 years old or intellectually disabled, repeat offenders, or offenders who hold positions of trust or authority over victims. (18 Pa. Cons. Stat. §§ 1103, 1104, 3133 (2024).

Utah punishes sextortion involving an adult perpetrator and adult victim as a third-degree felony (up to five years in prison). Aggravated sextortion by an adult is a second-degree felony (1 to 15 years prison) when the victim is also an adult and a first-degree felony (five years to life in prison) when the victim is a child or vulnerable victim. Examples of aggravated sextortion include situations involving:

• weapons or violence
• injuries to the victim
• perpetrators who are strangers to their victims or befriend them to sexually exploit them
• perpetrators with prior sexual offenses, and
• perpetrators who violate positions of trust.

(Utah Code §§ 76-3-203, 76-5b-204 (2024).)

The Cyber Civil Rights Initiative (CCRI) tracks sextortion laws by state. If you have questions about the penalties for sextortion in your state, talk to a local criminal defense lawyer.

What Is a Sextortion Scam?

Most sextortionists target a specific victim, either someone they know or someone they've interacted with online. Others cast a wider net in a sextortion email scam.

A sextortion phishing scam goes something like this: You get an email from someone who claims to have installed spyware on your computer or mobile phone. The email typically includes your name, address, and sometimes even a picture of your house. The scammers say they will release embarrassing information about you—such as screenshots of you watching pornography—if you don't send them money, often Bitcoin or another cryptocurrency.

According to the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), sextortion scammers almost certainly haven't hacked your computer. They likely found your information in a data breach and are sending a similar email out to potentially millions of people hoping that some will be scared enough to pay up and make the scam profitable. The best way to respond, according to EFF, is to ignore the email and use a password manager to keep your passwords strong. You can also cover your webcam if that brings you peace of mind.

What Should I Do If I Am a Victim of Sextortion?

If you are a victim of sextortion, know that you aren't alone and you haven't done anything wrong. Sextortion can make you feel isolated and scared, but it's not your fault if someone tricks or betrays you. Here are steps you can take to stop sextortion and get help.

Step 1: If You Are at Risk of Suicide, Get Crisis Support

Dial 988 or text HOME to 741741. Victims of sextortion are at risk of self-harm and suicide. The FBI has identified at least 20 sextortion-related suicides from October 2021 to March 2023.

Step 2: Don't Pay or Comply With Demands

Do not comply with a sextortionist's demands. Don't pay any money or send photos and videos. According to Thorn, cooperating or paying rarely stops the threats, it often just causes perpetrators to increase their demands. The best approach is to stop communicating with the sextortionist right away. If you've already given money or sent photos, it's okay. Just stop communicating and complying moving forward.

Step 3: Don't Delete Anything

Take screenshots of all your communications with the perpetrator and save your profile and messages to use as potential evidence and then block the perpetrator.

Step 4: Talk With Someone You Trust

Tell the people close to you, like your family, friends, or teachers what you're going through. To connect with a trained counselor, text THORN to 741741.

Step 5: Make a Report

If you were under 18 years old at the time someone created or shared intimate images of you, contact NCMEC's CyberTipline. A trained analyst will review your case and provide it to the appropriate agency for possible investigation. Victims of sextortion of any age might also want to report it to a local law enforcement agency or the FBI (call 1-800-CALL-FBI or submit a tip online at tips.fbi.gov). But keep in mind that sharing nude images of minors (including selfies) is illegal, so it's possible you could face consequences too. Talk to a trusted adult or lawyer if you have any questions.

Step 6: Notify the Tech Platform

Report any threats and images that have been shared to the relevant platform. NCMEC's removal guide can help you get started.

Step 7: Prevent Images from Spreading

Take It Down is a free service that can help you remove online nude and sexually explicit images that were taken of you when you were under 18. If you were an adult when the images were taken, StopNCII.org can help you get the images removed from some platforms. The CCRI Safety Center has a step-by-step guide to requesting image removal.

Step 8: Change Your Passwords

Make sure your accounts are as secure as possible. Change your passwords and activate the highest security settings.

How Do I Report Sextortion?

Many sextortion victims feel ashamed and don't want to talk about what's happening to them, but help is potentially available from local, state, and federal agencies.

Can a Victim of Sextortion Get in Trouble?

Before you report sextortion, take a minute. According to Thorn, some victims of sextortion have gotten help from the police. You are the victim and you've done nothing wrong, but sharing nude photos of minors, even selfies, is illegal and you could potentially face consequences depending on your situation. You should talk to a trusted adult or an attorney before you contact law enforcement.

Reporting Sextortion to Law Enforcement

As noted above, if you were a minor when the image was taken or spread, report the abuse to the CyberTipline. If you prefer to speak to someone, you can call NCMEC's call center at 1-800-843-5678. NCMEC's team will review your report and contact the appropriate agency for a potential investigation.

If you are a student, consider reporting the sextortion to your Title IX coordinator or other student support service on your campus.

The FBI has issued many warnings about the dramatic increase in sextortion cases. You can reach out to your local field office for help or file a complaint at the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), the FBI's central hub for reporting cybercrime. You can also call a state or local law enforcement agency.

Reporting Sextortion to Tech Platforms

Most sextortion happens on social media, gaming platforms, and dating apps. You can report the sextortion to the appropriate tech platform. If the perpetrator has posted explicit images of you, you can ask the platform to take them down. But before you do, preserve all the evidence.

You can find removal procedures for tech companies on their websites. Here are a few of the major platforms:

• Instagram
• TikTok
• Snapchat, and
• Facebook.

Can I Sue Someone for Sextortion?

In addition to requesting criminal charges, many victims want to know if they can sue someone for sextortion. If you file a civil lawsuit you can ask for money to compensate you for things like:

• emotional distress
• lost wages and diminished earning capacity, and
• out-of-pocket expenses like therapy, online content removal, and moving expenses.

Many states and the federal government have laws that allow victims of revenge porn and deepfake pornography to file lawsuits against the people who harmed them. Sextortion victims might be able to use these same laws to get compensation for their suffering. Other potential causes of action in a sextortion-related civil lawsuit include invasion of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

Examples of Sextortion Cases

Sextortion can happen in many different ways. Here are a few real-world examples.

Hacked by Someone You Know

An early example of sextortion involved Cassidy Wolf. Wolf, who was crowned Miss Teen USA, was attending college in 2013 when she received a threatening email from her former high school classmate, Jared James Abrahams. Abrahams used software to control Wolf's webcam to take nude photos and videos of her. He then threatened to publish them if she didn't comply with his demands to send more photos or videos. Wolf told her mother, who called the police. Abrahams, who admitted to hacking into as many as 150 online accounts in 2012 and 2013, was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison for one count of hacking and three counts of extortion.

AI-Generated Nudes on Instagram

In January 2024, high school journalists exposed a widespread sextortion scheme involving multiple schools in Aurora, Colorado. Some students were contacted through Instagram by an account that had reportedly gotten nudes of them. Others were invited to join an Instagram "Close Friends List" where explicit photos had been posted. The sextortionist(s) then demanded payment to have the photos removed. At least one of the victims said the image was doctored and it wasn't actually them. One of the journalists who worked on the story said the lewd photos were "possibly real, possibly changed." An investigation is active and ongoing.

Catfished by Online Predators

In 2022, Jordan DeMay fell victim to online predators posing as a pretty girl his age. The predators convinced him to share an explicit photo of himself and then threatened to share the picture online unless he paid $1,000. He paid $300, but it wasn't enough. The predators shared the photo with DeMay's girlfriend and when he threatened to take his life, they encouraged him to do it.

Tragically, DeMay died of a self-inflicted gun a mere six hours after he first started communicating with the predators. He was only 17 years old.

The FBI was able to track the predators down in Nigeria. Two brothers, Samuel Ogoshi and Samson Ogoshi, were extradited to the United States and sentenced to 210 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release.

Resources for Victims of Sextortion

If you are a victim of sextortion, you aren't alone. There are many free, trusted resources available to guide you through the legal and emotional aftermath of sextortion. Here are a few:

• RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network): The nation's largest anti-sexual violence organization operates the National Sexual Assault Hotline. Call 1-800-656-HOPE or chat at online.rainn.org.
• Information and Resources on Sextortion by the American Academy of Pediatrics
• Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, and
• Nolo's Resources for Victims of Crime.