Hindi pa naisasalin ang buong teksto ng pahinang ito, kaya nakalagay ito sa Ingles sa ibaba. Naisalin na ang buod, mga label, at impormasyong pangkaligtasan sa itaas.
A 15-year-old in Fort Wayne starts chatting on Instagram with a girl who seems to be his age. After a few days she asks for a photo, and he sends one. Minutes later the tone changes: pay $500 in gift cards, or the photo goes to everyone on his follower list. His heart is pounding. What he does in the next hour matters, and the right moves are simpler than they feel.
What is happening, and who does this
Sextortion is blackmail using sexual images. When the goal is money, the FBI calls it financially motivated sextortion. From October 2021 to March 2023, the FBI and Homeland Security Investigations received over 13,000 reports of it involving minors, with at least 12,600 victims, mostly boys.
The FBI says victims are typically boys ages 14 to 17, though any child can be targeted. The people doing it are usually outside the United States, often working from fake accounts with stolen photos. You are not the first person this has happened to, and you did not walk into something rare.
The first hour, step by step
Do not pay, and do not send anything else. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) says cooperating or paying rarely stops the blackmail.
Stop replying. Report the account through the app's safety feature, then block it. Do not delete your profile or the messages. NCMEC says those help stop the blackmailer, so take screenshots that show the username and the demands.
Tell one trusted adult tonight. Then report. You can file with NCMEC's CyberTipline at report.cybertip.org, which passes reports to law enforcement, or call the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI or go to tips.fbi.gov. If new accounts start messaging you with the same threats, do not answer them. Screenshot each one and add it to your report. If you feel overwhelmed, NCMEC's 24-hour call center at 1-800-843-5678 offers crisis support.
Getting the image taken down
NCMEC runs a free tool called Take It Down at takeitdown.ncmec.org. It is for images or videos taken when you were under 18. You can stay anonymous, and your image never leaves your phone.
The tool makes a hash (a digital fingerprint, a code that matches one exact file) and shares only that code with platforms that agreed to take part. Those platforms can scan their public or unencrypted services for a match and remove it. Use only images already on your device. Do not send or download a copy just to submit it. If the image is from when you were 18 or older, NCMEC points you to stopncii.org instead.
The law is aimed at the blackmailer
In New York v. Ferber (1982), the U.S. Supreme Court held that states can ban making and sharing sexual images of children, and that the First Amendment does not protect them. Ferber is a key reason that creating or spreading these images can be prosecuted as a serious crime.
NCMEC's message to victims is direct: what the blackmailer is doing is a crime. A trusted adult or a lawyer can help you with any questions about your own situation, but the fastest way to stop the person threatening you is to report them.
Tandaan ito
- Do not pay and do not send more; paying rarely ends the threats.
- Report and block the account, but keep the messages and take screenshots.
- Report to report.cybertip.org or 1-800-CALL-FBI, and tell a trusted adult tonight.
- Take It Down can help remove images from when you were under 18, without uploading them.
Mga pinagmulan
Nagbibigay ang artikulong ito ng pangkalahatang impormasyong pang-edukasyon, hindi legal na payo para sa iyong sitwasyon. Hindi law firm ang KidsKnowRights, at ang pagbasa ng artikulong ito ay hindi lumilikha ng ugnayang abogado-kliyente. Nagkakaiba ang batas depende sa estado, edad, at mga pangyayari, at nagbabago ito sa paglipas ng panahon. Para sa payo tungkol sa totoong sitwasyon, makipag-usap sa isang lisensyadong abogado o sa isang legal aid organization.