Stop sending more material or credentials
Do not send additional intimate images, passwords, PINs, OTPs or account credentials. Do not assume payment will end the threat.
Private Response Pathway
I'm Being Blackmailed. What Do I Do Now?
If someone is threatening to share genuine, stolen, secretly recorded or AI-manipulated intimate material, act methodically. Do not let panic push you into sending more content, credentials or money.
Do not upload intimate images or videos to Scam Alert. Preserve threat messages, usernames, profile URLs, payment instructions and non-explicit/redacted screenshots. Do not redistribute intimate content merely to prove the threat.
Preserve the threat evidence
Save the username, public profile link, phone number, email address, dates, messages, payment instructions and any threat to publish. Redact explicit portions before sharing screenshots with support services.
Tell someone you trust
Sexual blackmail depends on secrecy and panic. A trusted person can help preserve evidence, report the threat and prevent isolated decision-making.
Secure your accounts
Change compromised passwords, sign out unknown sessions and enable MFA on email, cloud-storage and social-media accounts.
Use the correct removal or prevention tool
Adults concerned about non-consensual intimate images can use StopNCII.org. If the material was created when the person was under 18, use Take It Down and do not download or redistribute the content merely to submit it.
Report the account and any criminal threat
Use the platform's abuse-reporting process. South Africa's Cybercrimes Act criminalises unlawful intentional electronic disclosure of an intimate image without consent. The Film and Publication Board also accepts reports of child sexual abuse material and harmful or violent online content.
Choose the Right Route
Removal, child protection and Scam Alert support
Adults: StopNCII.org
Creates a digital fingerprint on your device so participating platforms can detect matching content. The intimate image or video itself does not leave your device.
Open StopNCII.org ↗Under 18: Take It Down
For nude or sexually explicit material created when the person was under 18. The service hashes content on the device and says not to download or redistribute material to use the service.
Open Take It Down ↗South Africa: FPB Hotline
The Film and Publication Board accepts reports of child sexual abuse material and harmful or violent online content through its official hotline.
Open FPB Hotline ↗AI / Deepfake Warning
You do not need to have taken an explicit photo to be targeted.
Ordinary photographs can be manipulated into convincing sexual material. Treat a threat involving AI-generated or deepfake intimate content as abuse and blackmail even when the underlying image is fabricated.
Preserve the threat, report the account, secure your profiles and use the appropriate support route.
For executives, politicians and public office bearers
Sexual blackmail may seek money, but it can also seek access, introductions, confidential information, organisational decisions or influence. Do not negotiate privately. Bring in a designated legal, security or trusted organisational contact and preserve the evidence.
Executive & Public Office Bearer Training