Sextortion: what parents should do in the first 24 hours

Minute 0: stay calm

The scammer is counting on panic. You need your kid to trust you enough to hand over the evidence and stop responding. Your tone is more important than your words right now.

Hour 1

1. Tell your kid: “You did the right thing telling me. This is a scam. We’re going to fix it. You’re not in trouble.”
2. Stop responding to the attacker. Do not pay. Do not send anything new.
3. Record the evidence that identifies the attacker: screenshot the profile, username and profile URL, every message, the payment handles or accounts they gave, and every amount demanded or paid. Keep the chat itself — NCMEC’s advice is to block the suspect but “DO NOT DELETE your profile or messages” (NCMEC).
4. Do not screenshot, save, download or forward any nude or sexual image of your child — not to yourself, not to police, not to the school. Federal law prohibits possessing or distributing a sexual image of anyone under 18 (US Department of Justice), and every copy is another one that can leak. Leave it where it is and describe it in your report instead: the CyberTipline says you cannot attach images, and asks you to note in the report that you have them (CyberTipline FAQ).
5. Do NOT block yet — blocking sometimes auto-deletes the chat evidence.

Hours 1-6

1. Use NCMEC Take It Down. Follow the flow on the kid’s phone — the service hashes the image locally, then asks participating platforms to take it down without ever uploading it. NCMEC’s own FAQ says not to download or share the image in order to use the tool (Take It Down FAQ).
2. Report on the platform: Instagram / Snap / Discord / Roblox have “sextortion” or “exploitation” report flows.
3. Report to the CyberTipline: report.cybertip.org.
4. Now block the account.

Hours 6-24

1. Tell local law enforcement, and use ic3.gov too if money was demanded or sent. Sextortion is a federal crime, but IC3 states that crimes against children belong with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children — so the CyberTipline report above is the one that matters most. To reach the FBI directly, call 1-800-CALL-FBI (225-5324) or contact your local FBI field office, the routes the FBI’s sextortion advisory gives.
2. Contact local police non-emergency line if you want a local record.
3. Change your kid’s social-media passwords; enable 2-step verification if not already on.
4. Alert your kid’s school counselor if the attacker might contact peers.

Hours 24-72

1. Monitor social media for the image appearing. Take It Down increases the chance of automated takedowns, but manual reports may still be needed.
2. Pay attention to your kid’s mental state. Loop in a therapist if available.
3. Review whether other images (current or historical) are on the kid’s device that could be a future target.

What not to do

• Don’t pay. Paying almost never ends the threats; it proves the victim will pay.
• Don’t delete the chat — record the usernames, messages and payment details first.
• Don’t copy the image. No screenshot, download or forward of a sexual image of your child, even as “evidence”. Describe it to law enforcement instead.
• Don’t shame your kid. Shame is how these cases escalate to crisis.
• Don’t handle it alone. File the reports. The law-enforcement trail matters for prosecution and for other families.

See our full sextortion topic guide for prevention.