Online safety & exploitation

Pediatricians suggest checking privacy settings before using a new app. Set accounts to private, turn off location sharing, and limit who can message you.

Quick checklist

• Account set to private
• Location sharing off
• Only friends can message you
• Strong, different passwords
• Two-step sign-in turned on

Some people pretend to be someone they’re not. Warning signs include moving the chat to a private app, asking you to keep secrets, sending gifts, asking for photos, or making threats.

If something feels wrong

• Stop replying
• Don’t send money or more photos
• Save the messages
• Block and report
• Tell an adult or someone you trust

Take It Down is a free service from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC). It helps people remove, or stop the sharing of, nude or sexual images or videos taken of them before age 18. You can stay anonymous, and the image stays on your own device.

The same page points people whose images were taken at 18 or older to a similar service. Find it at takeitdown.ncmec.org.

Scammers use fake profiles, urgent messages and too-good-to-be-true offers to get money or personal details. Being targeted is upsetting, and it happens to careful, smart people too.

Warning signs

• A new contact who quickly asks for money, gift cards or codes
• Pressure to act fast or keep it secret
• Requests to move to a different app
• Someone you know acting out of character (their account may be hacked)

The FBI recommends complex passwords or passphrases and multi-factor (two-step) sign-in, and reviewing an app’s privacy and data policies before uploading photos or videos.

Quick wins

• A different passphrase for each important account
• Two-step sign-in on email and social apps
• Check which apps can see your location and photos
• Search your name now and then to see what’s public

Tactics NCMEC describes

• Asking for sexual images, or offering to “trade” images
• Building rapport with compliments, shared interests or liking posts
• Offering gifts, gift cards, game currency or other rewards
• Pretending to be younger
• Sending their own sexual images
• Steering chat toward sexual talk or role-play

• Asking you to keep the friendship secret
• Asking for photos soon after connecting
• Claiming to be younger or a different gender
• Knowing a lot about your school or interests
• Pushing to move to a private app

• Gifts, money or game currency you can’t explain
• New contacts they won’t talk about
• Quickly hiding screens or switching apps
• Seeming anxious, withdrawn or upset after being online

1. Stop replying, and don’t send anything else
2. Save usernames, messages and screenshots
3. Block and report the account on the app
4. Tell a trusted adult
5. Report to NCMEC’s CyberTipline at report.cybertip.org or call 1-800-843-5678

Things to say often

• “You can always tell me, even if you broke a rule.”
• “Adults should never ask you to keep secrets from me.”
• “If anyone asks for photos, come to me. You won’t be in trouble.”

NCMEC offers free NetSmartz materials and a “Healthy Relationships” video and guide to help families talk about safe online choices.

Steps

1. Stop replying. Don’t send more images or money: paying rarely stops the blackmail
2. Don’t delete the account or messages. Take screenshots and save usernames: they help stop the blackmailer
3. Block the person and report the account on the app
4. Tell a trusted adult, like a parent, teacher, coach or counselor
5. Report it to the CyberTipline (report.cybertip.org) or call 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678), any time

If you don’t have an adult you can turn to, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) can help directly at gethelp@ncmec.org or 1-800-THE-LOST.

Take It Down, from NCMEC, helps remove or stop the sharing of nude or sexual images taken before age 18. You can stay anonymous, and the image never leaves your device.

If you were 18 or older when the image was taken, StopNCII.org creates a “digital fingerprint” of the image on your own device so participating companies can find and remove copies. Your image isn’t uploaded.

People going through sextortion often feel panic, deep shame, fear of being found out, and like their life is over. Offenders deliberately create that panic so you’ll act fast. Slowing down and telling someone takes away their power.

Things that help

• Talk to someone: shame grows in secret and shrinks when shared
• Remember: there is life after this, and most people around you will care far more about you than any image
• Take a break from your phone and do something grounding
• Talk with a counselor or therapist about what happened

NCMEC also offers crisis support, counseling referrals, and Team HOPE, which connects families with others who have been through similar experiences.

Warning signs to talk about

• A new online “friend” who knows a lot about your child’s school or interests
• Requests for photos soon after connecting
• Pressure to move to a private app
• Someone claiming to be younger or a different gender

If your child tells you

• Stay calm. Your reaction decides whether they come to you again
• Say: “You’re not in trouble. I love you. We’ll get through this together.”
• Don’t take away their phone in anger: you need the evidence, and they need to trust you
• Help them report and use Take It Down
• Watch their mood closely for a few weeks

What helps

• “I’m so glad you told me. This isn’t your fault.”
• Don’t look at, save or forward any images
• Help them tell a trusted adult or report it
• Stay with them if they’re very upset

People affected often feel shame, fear, anger, and a loss of control over their own image. Some avoid school, work or going online. Many worry about who has seen it. These are understandable reactions to a real violation.

When the person who shared the images was a partner or friend, the betrayal can hurt as much as the images themselves. See the Betrayal & rebuilding trust guide for more on betrayal.

What to do

• Save evidence: usernames, links, screenshots, dates
• Don’t pay or bargain with anyone threatening you
• Report the content to the platform
• Report crimes to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at ic3.gov
• Use Take It Down (images from under 18) or StopNCII.org (18+)

The Cyber Civil Rights Initiative runs a free, 24/7 Image Abuse Helpline at 844-878-2274, offering support and referrals for people affected by intimate image abuse and other online abuse.

Ideas

• Set profiles and friend lists to private
• Think about who can see photos of you and your kids
• Be wary of strangers pushing for video calls or photos
• Use strong passphrases and two-step sign-in
• Do a reverse image search now and then to see where your photos appear

What to say

• “This isn’t your fault.”
• “I believe you, and I’m here.”
• “Do you want help reporting it?”

What not to do

• Ask to see the image
• Say “Why did you send it?” or “Everyone knows it’s fake, so it’s fine”
• Share it, even to warn others

Take It Down, from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), helps remove or stop the sharing of nude or sexual images or videos taken before age 18. It creates a “digital fingerprint” (hash) on your device, so you don’t have to send the image to anyone, and you can stay anonymous.

It works on participating public platforms. Find it at takeitdown.ncmec.org.

StopNCII.org creates a digital fingerprint of the image on your own device. Only that fingerprint is shared with participating companies so they can find and remove copies. Your image isn’t uploaded.

It’s run by the Revenge Porn Helpline, part of the nonprofit SWGfL.

Under the TAKE IT DOWN Act, covered platforms (like social media, gaming apps and photo or video sites) must give people an easy way to ask for removal of intimate images shared without consent, including AI-made ones. They must remove the image and known copies within 48 hours of a valid request.

How to use it

1. Ask the app or website to remove the image
2. Wait 48 hours
3. If it’s still up, or you can’t find a way to ask, report the platform to the FTC at TakeItDown.ftc.gov

In the U.S.

• Crimes against children: NCMEC CyberTipline at report.cybertip.org, or 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678), any time
• Other online crimes, including sextortion of adults: the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center at ic3.gov
• Immediate danger: call 911

The Cyber Civil Rights Initiative runs a free, 24/7 Image Abuse Helpline at 844-878-2274, offering support and referrals for people affected by intimate image abuse and other online abuse.

Reporting an account or post to the platform can get it removed and the account banned. Take screenshots first, then report, then block.

• “Why did you send it?”
• “I told you not to talk to strangers.”
• “Everyone knows it’s fake, so it’s fine.”
• “You’re never using your phone again.”

Offenders deliberately create panic and shame. Stay close, keep talking, and take any talk of hopelessness or self-harm seriously.

NCMEC offers crisis support, counseling referrals, and Team HOPE, which connects families with others who have been through similar experiences.

It’s normal to feel shocked, angry or guilty. Talking with a counselor or a trusted friend can help you stay steady for the person who needs you.

Call or text 988, or chat at 988lifeline.org, 24 hours a day. You can reach out for yourself or for someone you’re worried about.

A free, 24/7 text line staffed by trained crisis counselors. Some people find texting easier than talking.

NCMEC’s 24-hour call center helps with exploitation and sextortion involving anyone under 18. Young people without an adult to turn to can also email gethelp@ncmec.org.

Find A Helpline (findahelpline.com) is a free directory of helplines in more than 175 countries, by phone, text or chat.