Sextortion in schools: what DSLs need to know and do

Sextortion is blackmail that uses intimate images. In the financial type, the offender wants money. Payment often comes as gift cards or through payment apps.

The offender often pretends to be a young person of a similar age. First contact usually comes through a social media or chat app. The talk then moves quickly to a private app or a video call.

The offender gets the student to share an intimate image, or tricks them on a video call. Then the threats start. Pay, or the image goes to their friends, family and school.

NCMEC (the US National Center for Missing and Exploited Children) says teenage boys have been the most common targets in recent cases. Any student can be targeted.

Some offenders use fake or edited images. A student can be threatened even if they sent nothing. Read more on AI-made nude images of students.

A sextortion attempt tends to follow the same five steps. Thorn, a child safety nonprofit, found the same threats repeated across many victims in the reports it studied.

The speed is part of the method. Countdowns leave the student little time to think, and shame stops them telling an adult.

The student is the victim of a planned crime, and many offenders appear to work from other countries. Tell students this early.

• Contact: a friendly follow or message from a "teen" account the student does not know
• Trust: quick compliments, shared interests and a move to a private chat
• The trade: the offender sends a photo first and asks for one back, or records a video call
• The threat: a screenshot, a list of the student's followers and a demand for money
• The pressure: a countdown, constant messages, and new accounts when the student blocks one

Most students hide it. They feel shame, and the offender tells them to keep quiet. You are more likely to see a change in the student than to hear a disclosure.

No single sign proves anything. Pass on what you notice through the same route as any other concern.

A student may also ask a "what if" question to see how you react. Answer calmly and tell the DSL.

• Panic or distress when a phone buzzes, or avoiding the phone completely
• New secrecy about devices, accounts or who they are talking to
• Questions about gift cards, payment apps or borrowing money
• Poor sleep, stomach aches, missed lessons or a drop in work
• Closing accounts suddenly or opening new ones
• Hints of hopelessness or self-harm

Do not ask why they sent the image. Do not ask to see it, and do not ask them to forward, screenshot or delete it. UK guidance for schools says staff should not view, copy or delete the image.

Stay calm and listen, as you would for any disclosure. The student expects blame, so your first words matter. Short, kind lines like these help:

• "Thank you for telling me. You are not in trouble."
• "This is blackmail. It is a crime, and the person doing it is to blame."
• "Please do not pay and do not send anything else. We will deal with this together."
• "I cannot keep this secret, because I need to keep you safe. I will tell the DSL today and tell you what happens next."
• "Do you feel safe right now?"

Tell the DSL the same day, and follow your school's child protection procedure. If a student is in immediate danger, call local emergency services. KCSIE 2026 applies in England from 1 September 2026 and treats online safety as part of safeguarding.

Do not pay. NCMEC says paying rarely stops the blackmail, and Thorn found that some students who paid faced new demands. If a student has already paid, give the same support and take the same steps.

• Check the student is safe, and ask directly about self-harm
• Keep the image out of sight: nobody views, copies, forwards or deletes it
• Ask the student to stop replying and block the account, but keep the profile and chats
• Note usernames, profile links, payment requests and times, and leave the chats in the app
• Report the account to the platform, and report to the police or your national reporting body
• Tell parents or carers when your procedure says so, unless this would put the student at risk
• Record what happened and what you did, with dates and times

Report the account to the platform first, then use a removal service for the image. Take It Down is free and anonymous, and NCMEC runs it for images taken before the person turned 18.

The student picks the files on their own device, and the files are not uploaded. Only a digital fingerprint (a hash) is sent, and NCMEC shares it with platforms that take part so they can find and act on exact copies.

It has limits. It works only on public or unencrypted services of platforms that take part, and content already posted can be hard to remove. NCMEC runs it from the United States, so use it alongside platform reports and local routes.

Adults whose images were taken when they were 18 or older can use StopNCII.org. In the UK, students under 18 can use Childline and the Internet Watch Foundation's Report Remove.

Reporting duties and rules on images of under-18s differ by country. Check mandatory reporting laws for international schools, and ask local counsel or the police before anyone handles an image.

• The platform: report the account and the content in the app
• Take It Down for images taken under 18, or StopNCII.org for 18 and over
• Local police or your national cybercrime reporting unit
• A hotline in your country, found through INHOPE
• A child helpline in your country, found through Child Helpline International

Tell students before it happens, in plain words. Say that strangers who look like teens may be criminals, that nobody will be punished for telling, and that paying does not make it stop.

Thorn argues that "just don't share images" is weak advice on its own. Students also need to know what to do after a threat, and who will help.

Brief all staff, including boarding, transport and office staff. Cover the signs, the lines to use and who to tell. Add sextortion to your online safety policy.

Give parents the same message and a named contact at school. Ask them to stay calm, avoid blame and call you before they pay anything.

Try this at your next staff meeting. A 15-year-old says someone is threatening to send a photo to the whole class unless they pay. Ask what you would say, what you would not do, and who you would tell in the first hour.