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Emergency Help

Child in immediate danger? Call 911 now.

Call 911 Call 988 Text 988

988 is the US Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, 24/7, if your child talks about self-harm or suicide. Outside the US: UK 999, Australia 000, or your local emergency number (more routes).

Sexual exploitation or sextortion: NCMEC CyberTipline, 24 hours, 1-800-843-5678 or report.cybertip.org.

Something just happened. Here’s what to do first, in what order, with no judgment and no product pitch.

Emergency·Last reviewed 2026-09-07·by Lexeprint Inc.
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If something has already happened, this page is the ordered list of what to do first. It covers sextortion, a stranger in your child's messages, images that have been shared, scams and account theft, and it links the official reporting routes for each. The guidance is deliberately short and sequenced, because the thing that helps most in the first hour is knowing which step comes next.

Pick your situation

  1. Someone is threatening to share nude images of my child
  2. A stranger has been messaging my kid
  3. My kid was scammed (account, money, V-Bucks, gift cards)
  4. My kid’s account was hijacked
  5. An image of my kid has been shared without consent
  6. My kid is being exposed to self-harm content

Outside the US? See UK and Australia reporting routes.

Sextortion (threats to share nude images)

Do not screenshot, save, download or forward a sexual image of your child, even to report it. US federal law prohibits the distribution, reception and possession of sexual images of anyone under 18 (US Department of Justice), and NCMEC’s Take It Down tells you not to download or share the image to use it (Take It Down FAQ). Capture the messages and account around it, and describe the image to police.
  1. Do not pay. Paying almost never ends the threats and often escalates them.
  2. Don’t delete anything yet. Screenshot the threatening messages, the username/profile, and any dollar amounts, but not the image itself.
  3. Block the account on the platform after you’ve preserved evidence.
  4. Use NCMEC’s free “Take It Down” service at takeitdown.ncmec.org to hash-match and remove the image across participating platforms. The image stays on your child’s device and is not submitted.
  5. Report to the CyberTipline at report.cybertip.org or 1-800-843-5678 (US, 24 hours), or your national reporting body (UK and Australia).
  6. Report to the FBI at tips.fbi.gov or 1-800-CALL-FBI and to local law enforcement. Sextortion is a federal crime in the US.
  7. Tell your kid it’s not their fault. Shame silence kills faster than anything else in these cases.

Next steps: the first 24 hours · how to use Take It Down · Sextortion: prepare and respond · printable emergency response card.

Stranger contact

  1. Screenshot the conversation, profile URL, and platform.
  2. Do not let the child reply while you investigate.
  3. Block and report the account on the platform.
  4. If sexual content, grooming, or threats are present, file at report.cybertip.org or call 1-800-843-5678. If they sent or asked for a sexual image, do not save or forward it (why).
  5. Review where the stranger found your kid — DM settings, public profile, livestream, game chat — and close that door.

If the contact turns into threats over images, go to sextortion and Sextortion: prepare and respond.

Your kid was scammed

  1. Change passwords on the compromised account and any account sharing that password.
  2. Enable 2-step verification on every major account.
  3. If payment was made via credit card, contact the card issuer — chargebacks are usually faster than platform refunds.
  4. If gift cards were used: report to reportfraud.ftc.gov and the gift-card issuer.
  5. Report the platform (Roblox, Discord, Snap, etc.) so they can take down the scam account.

Account hijack

  1. Use the platform’s “account recovery” or “my account was hacked” flow — not a password reset if you’re locked out.
  2. Check email forwarding rules and connected apps; attackers often add these so they can re-enter.
  3. Change passwords on any account that reused the same password (usually several).
  4. Enable 2-step verification, ideally app-based (Google Authenticator, Authy) not SMS.

A non-consensual image has been shared

  1. Do not save, screenshot or forward the image yourself, even as evidence. Note where it appears (the link, the account name) and report it.
  2. Use NCMEC’s Take It Down (under-18).
  3. Use StopNCII.org (over-18).
  4. Report to each platform where the image appears.
  5. Talk to your kid’s school counselor if peers are involved.

Step-by-step: how to use Take It Down. In the UK or Australia, see outside the US.

Self-harm or suicidal content exposure

  1. Check in on your kid gently and directly. Ask, don’t hint.
  2. If there is any expressed intent: call 988 or text 988 (US, 24/7) or your local crisis line. If they are in immediate danger, call 911.
  3. Talk to your child’s doctor or school counselor about what they saw and what support comes next.
  4. Report the content on the platform; most have specific reporting flows for self-harm content.

Outside the US

United Kingdom

  • Immediate danger: call 999.
  • Online sexual abuse, exploitation or grooming of a child, including sextortion: report to CEOP (Child Exploitation and Online Protection).
  • Your child is under 18 and wants a nude image of themselves taken down: Report Remove, run by Childline and the Internet Watch Foundation.

Australia

  • Immediate danger: call Triple Zero (000).
  • Sextortion, grooming or other exploitation of a child under 18: report to the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation (ACCCE).
  • Someone has shared, or is threatening to share, an intimate image without consent: report image-based abuse to eSafety. If the child is under 18, eSafety points to the ACCCE first.
Reminder. This is information for parents, not professional advice. For crisis situations, contact qualified professionals and local authorities. See our full disclaimer.