If someone is threatening to leak your nudes, stop responding to them, save every message as evidence, and report the threat to local police and the FBI. Don’t send money. Threatening to share someone’s intimate images is a federal crime under the TAKE IT DOWN Act signed in May 2025, and a separate federal law lets you sue the person for at least $150,000 in damages. You have more power here than the person pressuring you wants you to realize.
Don’t Pay. Don’t Respond.
The first move is to go silent. Don’t send money, don’t send more images, don’t try to reason with the person, and don’t agree to any demand. The FBI is blunt on this point: cooperating almost never ends the harassment and usually produces more demands for money or more images.1Federal Bureau of Investigation. The Financially Motivated Sextortion Threat The whole scheme runs on your shame and your panic. Refusing to engage breaks it.
This holds even when the person sets a deadline or claims they’re about to post. Deadlines are pressure. Paying once marks you as someone who will pay again, and the demands tend to grow. If you’ve already sent money, there’s a section below on what to do next.
Save Everything Before You Block
Before you block the account or delete the thread, document all of it. Screenshots are the foundation of any police investigation or lawsuit, and the account you’re looking at can disappear the moment the person realizes you’ve reported them.
- Screenshot every message across every platform where contact happened — texts, DMs, emails, chat apps. Each shot should show the username or phone number, the date, and the time.
- Screenshot the person’s profile pages, including display name, username, profile photo, follower counts, and any linked accounts.
- If contact came by email, save the full email headers, not just the body. The headers contain routing data investigators use to trace the sender.
- Copy and save the URLs of any page where content was posted or threats were made.
- If you already sent money, screenshot the transaction — amount, date, recipient, platform.
Keep copies in two places, such as a cloud folder and a USB drive. If you’re worried about someone accessing your devices, email the files to a person you trust as a backup.
Report It
Sextortion is a crime, and reporting matters even if you aren’t sure anything will come of it. File with local police and federal authorities both — they do different things, and one doesn’t substitute for the other.
Local Police
File a report in person at your local department and ask for a copy of the report number. You’ll need it for platform takedown requests and for any civil case later. Some departments have cybercrime units, and even those that don’t can document the crime and refer it up.
FBI and IC3
If the threat comes through online platforms, crosses state lines, or appears to come from overseas, report to the FBI. Contact your local FBI field office, call 1-800-CALL-FBI, or submit a tip at tips.fbi.gov.2Federal Bureau of Investigation. Sextortion For online crimes, file a complaint with the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at complaint.ic3.gov, which routes complaints to federal, state, local, and international partners.3Internet Crime Complaint Center. Internet Crime Complaint Center Home Page IC3 is especially useful when the perpetrator is overseas, which is common in money-driven sextortion. You won’t get updates from IC3, but your report enters a system that feeds investigations.
If the Person Being Threatened Is Under 18
When the victim is a minor, the images are child sexual abuse material regardless of who took them, and different channels apply. Report immediately to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s CyberTipline at CyberTip.org or 1-800-843-5678.2Federal Bureau of Investigation. Sextortion A parent or guardian can also pursue civil claims under federal law on the minor’s behalf.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 6851 – Civil Action Relating to Disclosure of Intimate Images
Get the Images Taken Down
If images are already posted, or you believe they will be, several tools can get them removed and keep them from spreading.
Report to the Platform
Every major social platform prohibits non-consensual intimate content and has a reporting path, usually accessible from the post itself or from safety settings. Include the direct link to the content, screenshots of the threats, and the perpetrator’s username. Platforms typically remove reported content and can suspend or ban the account.
Block Re-Uploads With StopNCII.org
StopNCII.org lets you create a digital fingerprint (called a hash) of your intimate images on your own device. The images themselves never leave your phone or computer. That hash is shared with participating platforms, which use it to automatically detect and block uploads of the same image.5StopNCII.org. Stop Non-Consensual Intimate Image Abuse Participating platforms include Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Reddit, Pornhub, OnlyFans, Threads, and others.6SWGfL. Patreon Joins StopNCII.org as a New Industry Partner You must be 18 or older and still have the images to use the tool.
Remove Them From Google
Even after a platform pulls the content, cached copies can show up in search. Google accepts requests to remove non-consensual intimate images from Search when the image shows you nude, in a sexual act, or in an intimate state and was shared without your consent.7Google Search Help. Get Help Removing Explicit or Intimate Personal Images This doesn’t delete the image from the hosting site, but it stops the content from appearing when someone searches your name.
The 48-Hour Takedown Rule
The TAKE IT DOWN Act, signed on May 19, 2025, requires platforms that host user-generated content to remove non-consensual intimate images within 48 hours of a valid takedown request. Those notice-and-removal requirements took effect May 19, 2026.8Representative Maria Salazar. TAKE IT DOWN Act Passes the House and Heads to Presidents Desk A platform that ignores or stalls a request past the 48-hour window is violating federal law.
The Threat Itself Is a Federal Crime
The TAKE IT DOWN Act makes it a federal crime to knowingly distribute non-consensual intimate images in interstate commerce. It also criminalizes the threat to publish them, so the person doesn’t have to follow through for it to be prosecutable.8Representative Maria Salazar. TAKE IT DOWN Act Passes the House and Heads to Presidents Desk The law covers real images and AI-generated deepfakes when a reasonable person would believe the depiction realistically shows you.
All 50 states and Washington, D.C. have laws against non-consensual distribution of intimate images. Some treat it as a misdemeanor, others as a felony, and many states also have sextortion or cyber-harassment statutes that specifically target threats. A lawyer in your state can tell you which charges apply.
Deepfakes and AI-Generated Images
You don’t have to be the person actually photographed for this to be a crime against you. The TAKE IT DOWN Act explicitly covers digitally altered and AI-generated intimate content when a reasonable person would believe the image realistically shows you.8Representative Maria Salazar. TAKE IT DOWN Act Passes the House and Heads to Presidents Desk The reporting and takedown steps are the same.
Congress is also considering the DEFIANCE Act, which would create a separate federal civil cause of action for victims of deepfake intimate imagery. As of early 2026 it had passed the Senate unanimously but not the House. If enacted, it would allow suits for up to $150,000 in liquidated damages, or up to $250,000 when the deepfake is tied to sexual assault, stalking, or harassment, and would let plaintiffs use pseudonyms.
You Can Sue for $150,000 or More
Criminal prosecution punishes the perpetrator. A civil lawsuit gets you money.
Under 15 U.S.C. § 6851, originally enacted as part of the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2022, you can sue in federal court anyone who discloses your intimate images without your consent, as long as they knew or recklessly ignored that you hadn’t consented. You can recover your actual damages — covering emotional distress, therapy costs, lost income, and reputational harm — or liquidated damages of $150,000, whichever is greater.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 6851 – Civil Action Relating to Disclosure of Intimate Images The losing defendant also pays your attorney’s fees and costs, which makes these cases realistic to pursue on contingency even if you can’t afford a lawyer upfront.
Beyond money, the court can issue a temporary restraining order, preliminary injunction, or permanent injunction ordering the person to stop sharing the images.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 6851 – Civil Action Relating to Disclosure of Intimate Images Violating a federal injunction is contempt of court.
Many states have their own civil causes of action for non-consensual image sharing, and a state protective order is often faster to obtain than a federal lawsuit. Civil filing fees generally run from under $100 to several hundred dollars depending on the court.
If You Already Paid
If you sent money before finding this, call your bank or payment company today. Speed is what determines whether you get the money back. Tell them it was a fraudulent transaction, and use the word “sextortion” — it triggers specific internal processes, including a Suspicious Activity Report your bank is required to file with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network for sextortion-linked transactions.9Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. FinCEN Notice on Financially Motivated Sextortion
What to do by payment type:10Federal Trade Commission. What To Do if You Were Scammed
- Credit or debit card: Call the card issuer, report the charge as fraud, and ask them to reverse it.
- Bank wire transfer: Contact your bank immediately and request a reversal.
- Payment app (Venmo, Zelle, Cash App): Report the transaction inside the app, and separately report it to the bank or card linked to the app.
- Wire service (Western Union, MoneyGram): Call the company directly, report fraud, and request a reversal.
- Cryptocurrency: Contact the exchange you used. Crypto payments are generally not reversible.
Where to Get Help
This is a traumatic situation, and you don’t have to handle it alone. The Cyber Civil Rights Initiative operates a free, 24/7 crisis helpline at 844-878-2274 for victims of non-consensual intimate images and sextortion. The staff provide emotional support, practical guidance, and referrals — not legal advice, but a real person who has walked others through this.