What to Do if Someone Is Blackmailing You With Nudes

Someone has your nudes and says they will send them to your mama, your pastor, your job, your timeline, unless you pay or send more. Breathe. You have more power here than they want you to believe. This is a crime called sextortion, federal law is on your side, and the steps below work. Here is the first hour, the first day and the week after, plus what to do if it’s an ex or if something already got posted.

The first hour: four moves, in this order

If someone is blackmailing you with nudes, do four things right now: stop replying, don’t pay, save everything, and block and report the account. The FBI and the FTC give the same first instruction, and for the same reason: paying or sending more rarely ends it. The person often releases the images anyway, and the demands usually grow after the first payment [1, 2].

1. Stop all contact. No negotiating, no pleading, no “please, I’ll do anything.” Every reply tells them the pressure is working [1].
2. Don’t pay and don’t send more. No money, no gift cards, no extra images, no passwords, no access to your accounts or devices [2]. A payment marks you as someone who pays.
3. Save the evidence before you block. Screenshot the profile, the username, every message, every threat, every payment demand, and any account or wallet details they gave you. Then block them, but do not delete the conversation. Investigators need it, embarrassing parts included [1, 7].
4. Report the account. Block and report from any profile page or messaging window so the account gets reviewed. If they moved you to another app, report there too [1].

The first day: report it as the crime it is

Sextortion is a federal crime, and a report is what gets a case opened. You can file from your phone, tonight, without walking into a station: online at tips.fbi.gov [1] or through the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at ic3.gov [8]. Your local police can also take a report, which helps if you later need paperwork for a job, a school or a protective order.

We know that for a lot of our people, calling the police is a decision, not a reflex. For a threat about money and images, the online federal report does the job and puts you in front of the agency that handles this crime. One line has no exception: if the person threatens to hurt you or someone you love, or shows up at your door, call 911 first.

The TAKE IT DOWN Act, signed May 19, 2025, made it a federal crime to publish an intimate image of an adult without consent, and a federal crime to threaten to do so “for the purpose of intimidation, coercion, extortion, or to create mental distress.” Threatening to publish a real image of an adult carries up to two years in prison, three if the image shows a minor, and the law covers AI-generated fakes too [3]. The threat sitting in your inbox is a crime, whether or not they ever post.

If they are threatening to out you

Some blackmailers skip the money and go for the thing they think you fear most: your family, your church or your job finding out who you date. If you’re LGBTQ+ and the threat is exposure, every step on this page still applies, and the threat is still the crime. Nothing about who you love changes that. You decide who in your life gets told, and when, with someone you trust in the room. The LGBT National Help Center takes calls and chats from people working through exactly this.

Keep your nudes off the internet: two free tools for tonight

Two free tools can block your images from spreading before anything gets posted. If you were 18 or older when the image was taken, use StopNCII.org. It creates a digital fingerprint (a hash) of the image on your own phone; the image itself never leaves your device. Participating platforms use the hash to block matching uploads. The helpline that runs it reports a removal rate above 90 percent [5].

If any image was taken when you were under 18, even if you’re an adult now, use NCMEC’s Take It Down tool instead. Same method, same privacy: the image stays on your device, only the hash is shared [6].

For a human on the line, the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative runs a free, 24/7 Image Abuse Helpline for sextortion, leaked images and deepfakes, plus removal guides for search engines, social platforms and dating apps [7].

What not to do while you’re being blackmailed

When you panic, you reach for moves that make it worse. The mistakes that cost the most:

• Paying, even once. Paying rarely ends it. Demands typically climb after the first payment [1, 2].
• Sending more images to “make it stop.” More material is more leverage.
• Deleting the chat. Deleting destroys exactly what investigators need to identify them [7].
• Handling it alone. Isolation is the blackmailer’s best tool. Tell one person you trust: a friend, a cousin, a counselor [1].
• Paying a “recovery” service. Anyone who contacts you offering to delete the images or hunt the blackmailer for a fee is running a second scam. You should never have to pay to get help or to have your images removed [1].
• Confessing to everyone. You do not owe your whole family or your church a confession. Tell who you choose, when you choose.

What happens if you just ignore them?

In most cases, they move on. Blackmailers run high-volume operations and chase the people who respond; a target who goes silent is a dead lead. Many threats are bluff, and following through earns them nothing while building a criminal case against them. Silence is step one. The federal report and the hash tools above finish the job [1, 5].

What if it’s an ex, or someone who knows your people?

When the person has your family’s numbers and your church’s name, ignoring feels impossible, because the threat is specific. The moves are the same, with two additions. First, screenshot the threat itself, names included: the threat to publish is the federal offense on its own [3]. Second, tell one trusted person in that circle before the blackmailer can, so the story reaches your people in your words. If this is a current or former partner and the threats come with control, monitoring or showing up uninvited, the National Domestic Violence Hotline handles that pattern, and an advocate there can tell you whether a protective order in your state can cover the images. Any threat of physical harm: 911 first.

What if they already posted?

You still have strong options, and they are faster than they used to be. Since May 19, 2026, covered platforms (social apps, messaging services, image and video sites) must take down a reported intimate image, plus known identical copies, within 48 hours of a valid request [3, 4]. Use the platform’s removal form, keep a copy of your request and the date, and if the platform ignores it, file a complaint with the FTC at TakeItDown.ftc.gov [4]. Then run the image through StopNCII or Take It Down so it can’t be re-uploaded elsewhere [5, 6]. The person who posted it faces federal charges [3]. It feels unbearable in the moment. People come through this, and faster with someone beside them.

The week after: support and moving forward

Sextortion is built to make you feel trapped and ashamed, so telling someone helps more than you’d expect. A trusted friend, a counselor or a victim advocate can walk you through the reports and sit with you while you wait [1]. If church or family is where the pressure comes from, find your support elsewhere for now: BEAM, the Black Emotional and Mental Health Collective, keeps a directory of Black therapists and wellness practitioners [9], and the CCRI helpline stays open around the clock [7].

You did nothing wrong by trusting someone. When you’re ready to date again, carry one lesson and leave the fear behind: intimate exchanges are for people who have earned your trust over time, with a face and a voice you’ve verified, and the right person will respect that pace without complaint.