Sextortion: What It Is and How the Fraud Actually Runs

By Advocate Panchanand Shaw, Bar Council of West Bengal · Published 1 Nov 2026 · Cyber crime

Sextortion is blackmail backed by a threat to publish intimate material. The demand is extortion under section 308 of the BNS, 2023 or criminal intimidation under section 351, while publication is an offence under sections 67 and 67A of the IT Act, 2000 and, for a child, under POCSO 2012.

Sextortion is the demand for money, or for more images, backed by a threat to publish intimate material. In Indian law the demand is extortion or criminal intimidation under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, the publication or transmission of the material is an offence under sections 67 and 67A of the Information Technology Act, 2000, and capturing or transmitting an image of a private area without consent is voyeurism under section 77 of the BNS. It is a blackmail offence, not a sexual offence in most adult cases — but where the person targeted is a child, the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 applies and the case becomes far more serious.

The defining feature is not the image. It is the leverage. The person on the other side does not need to have anything real; a screen recording of a video call, a morphed photograph, or a claim that the material exists is enough to start the demand. That is why sextortion is one of the few cyber crimes where paying is almost always the wrong first move and where the outcome depends on how quickly the victim stops responding and starts reporting.

How the fraud actually runs

The most common version begins on a social platform or a dating app. A profile makes contact, the conversation turns sexual quickly, and a video call is proposed. On the call the victim is recorded without knowing it. Within hours a message arrives with a short clip and a demand: pay, or the clip goes to the victim's family, employer and friends, whose names the fraudster has already collected from the victim's contact list or social graph.

The second version is a straight blackmail without any call. The fraudster claims to hold images, sometimes attaching a blurred or morphed file, and threatens publication. The images may not exist at all. The demand is still extortion and the offence is complete when the threat is made.

The third version targets the victim's own account. A fake profile of the victim is created, or the victim's account is taken over, and intimate material is posted or threatened to be posted unless money is paid. This overlaps with image-based abuse and with identity theft under section 66C of the IT Act.

The fourth version involves a person the victim knows. A former partner, a colleague or an acquaintance holds real images and uses them after a break-up or a dispute. This is the version that most often reaches a courtroom, because the identity of the accused is known and the history can be proved.

In every version the mechanics are the same: establish leverage, create urgency with a countdown, isolate the victim by threatening disclosure to family and employer, and extract payments in escalating amounts. The first demand is deliberately affordable. The second is larger. The third is larger still. Paying does not end the demand; it confirms that the victim will pay.

The sections that apply

The demand for money under threat is section 308 of the BNS, 2023, extortion, which punishes the intentional putting of a person in fear of injury in order to dishonestly induce the delivery of property. Where the threat is of injury to reputation or of publishing material, the offence is section 351 of the BNS, criminal intimidation, which covers threats to injure reputation and threats to publish defamatory matter. Where the threat is to publish or transmit a private image, the BNS deals with voyeurism in section 77 and with obscene publication in the IT Act provisions that follow.

On the technology side, section 67 of the IT Act, 2000 punishes the publication or transmission of obscene material in electronic form, and section 67A punishes the publication or transmission of sexually explicit material. Section 67B covers material involving children and applies where the subject is a minor. Section 66C covers identity theft where the victim's account or profile is taken over or a fake profile is created in their name, and section 66D covers cheating by personation where the initial contact was made through a false identity. Section 66 covers the computer-related acts that support the scheme — the recording, the account access, the storage of the material.

Where the victim is a child, the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 applies, including its provisions on using a child for pornographic purposes and on storage of such material. The complaint in that situation should be made to the Special Juvenile Police Unit or the local police, and the identity of the child is protected by law throughout. It should never be filed as a routine cheating complaint, and the material should never be forwarded to anyone, including to the police through an ordinary messaging app — the police will collect it through the proper channel.

The procedural provisions are section 173 of the BNSS, 2023 for registration, section 175(3) of the BNSS where the police decline, and section 63 of the BSA, 2023 for the certificate that makes the screenshots and recordings admissible. Where the accused is unknown, the investigation will depend on platform records, IP logs and the payment trail; where the accused is known, the case is far more straightforward.

What the victim should do, in order

Stop responding. Immediately. Do not negotiate, do not argue, do not ask for proof, and do not pay. Every reply gives the fraudster information and time. Silence is the first effective step.
Do not delete anything, and do not forward anything. Preserve the messages and the call log on the device. Do not send the material to friends for advice; each forward is a separate transmission and creates a separate problem.
Save the evidence in a safe place. Screenshot the profile, the username, the demand message, the payment handle and the countdown. Note the date and time. If the material was posted, capture the URL and the page as it appeared.
Report on cybercrime.gov.in. The portal has a category for sextortion and for image-based abuse. Upload the screenshots and keep the acknowledgement number.
Call 1930 if money has already been paid. Report the beneficiary account or UPI ID so that a freeze can be requested. The payment trail is often the only lead to the person behind the profile.
File a written police complaint. Address it to the officer in charge, set out the facts in order, and attach the evidence. Where the accused is known, name them. Ask for the receipt on your copy.
Ask the platform to preserve and remove. Report the profile and the material to the platform's grievance officer, and ask for preservation of the account records. Under the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, platforms are required to act on complaints within the stated timelines, and intimate image complaints are treated as priority categories.
Seek support before the disclosure happens. A counsellor or a lawyer can help plan what to tell family and employer, and can write to the platform and the police on your behalf so that you are not managing the correspondence alone.

Timelines and forums at a glance

Step	Forum or contact	What to expect
Emergency report and freeze	1930 helpline	Same day; a report reference for the bank
Online complaint	cybercrime.gov.in	Acknowledgement number; routed to the police unit
FIR registration	Police station with jurisdiction	Registration under section 173 of the BNSS
Refusal to register	Magistrate under section 175(3) of the BNSS	A direction to investigate
Content removal	Platform grievance officer; IT Rules 2021	Removal and preservation of records
Child victim	Special Juvenile Police Unit; POCSO 2012	Protected procedure and enhanced penalties
Bail stage, if arrested	Sessions court or High Court	Conditions on contact and on the material

What decides how the case goes

Whether the victim replied. A record that shows the victim refusing and not paying is strong. A record that shows negotiation and repeated payments is harder, because the defence will argue that the payments were voluntary and the relationship consensual. Neither position defeats the offence, but the first is much easier to prove.

Whether the material is real. A morphed image or a claim without a file is still extortion, and the absence of real material does not make the demand lawful. Investigators will try to establish whether anything exists and where it is stored.

Whether the accused is identified. A known former partner with a documented history is a workable prosecution. An unknown profile behind a VPN and a rented account is a harder investigation that depends on platform cooperation and the payment trail.

The age of the victim. This changes the statute, the forum and the sentence. If there is any doubt, the complaint should say so and the police will verify.

How fast the material is taken down. Removal limits the harm and also limits the continued publication offence. A preservation request made at the same time keeps the evidence intact for trial.

What not to do

Do not pay, and do not offer a part payment. Part payment confirms capacity and invites the next demand.
Do not send more images to "prove" you are cooperating. This is the standard escalation and it never ends the demand.
Do not confront the person alone. Confrontation produces more threats and destroys the element of surprise that a police complaint depends on.
Do not post about it publicly to "expose" the person. Publication can itself become an offence and can prejudice the investigation.
Do not use a "recovery agency" that asks for a fee. These are usually the same fraudsters, or people selling the victim's details to them.
Do not assume that because you sent the image, you have no case. Consent to the image is not consent to the threat, and the demand is the offence.

The leverage only works while the victim is silent and paying. Reporting removes both conditions, which is why the first twenty-four hours are the whole case.

When to involve a lawyer

Reporting should not wait for legal advice. A lawyer becomes useful when the accused is known and the case will be contested, when a bail application is filed and conditions have to be proposed, when the material has been published and a takedown and preservation order is needed quickly, or when the victim is a child and the POCSO procedure has to be navigated carefully. A lawyer can also write to the platform so that the victim does not have to keep re-stating the facts.

In Kolkata and elsewhere in West Bengal the complaint is filed locally and the trial stage is handled by the City Sessions Court or Bankshall Court; the Calcutta High Court deals with bail and quashing. If you are dealing with this now, the cyber crime lawyer in Kolkata page explains how the complaints are structured, and the material on criminal defence is relevant if you have been accused rather than threatened. For a confidential discussion of your own facts, use the contact page.

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Frequently asked questions

What exactly is sextortion?

It is the demand for money or more images under a threat to publish intimate material. The offence is complete when the threat is made, even if no image exists. The demand is extortion or criminal intimidation under the BNS, 2023, with IT Act offences added for any publication or transmission.

Which law punishes sextortion in India?

Section 308 of the BNS, 2023 covers extortion, and section 351 covers criminal intimidation. Publication is punishable under sections 67 and 67A of the IT Act, 2000, and section 77 of the BNS covers voyeurism. Where the victim is a child, POCSO 2012 applies instead.

Should I pay a sextortion demand to make it stop?

No. Paying confirms that you will keep paying and almost always triggers a larger demand. It does not remove the material and does not end the threat. Stop responding, preserve the evidence exactly as it stands, and report to the police and the platform instead.

What if the images are morphed and not real?

The offence is still extortion. A threat to publish material that does not exist is still a threat made to extract money, and the fabricated nature of the image strengthens the case because it shows the demand was dishonest from the first message sent to the victim.

Does sextortion law change if the victim is a minor?

Yes. The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 applies, including its provisions on using a child for pornographic purposes and on storing such material. Penalties are higher, the procedure is protected, and the complaint goes to the Special Juvenile Police Unit or the local police.

Will reporting make the images public?

Reporting does not publish anything. The material stays with the police and the court, and identity protection applies in child cases. Courts can also restrict access to intimate material and direct that it not be copied, circulated or shown in open proceedings.

Information for general guidance only and not legal advice. Provisions cited follow the Information Technology Act 2000, the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023 and the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita 2023.

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