i needed to make money and a guy said he would pay me if i sent him nude photos of myself. i sent him the photos and because i said no to sending more he has leaked them everywhere, its on porn websites and has been sent to people i know and im not sure what to do
Hi there,
It's illegal to ask children and young people under 18 years old for sexual pictures like nudes and it's also illegal to share them. Blackmail is when someone forces you to do something you don't want by threatening you, and this is illegal as well. So there are a lot of things this person is doing that are not ok.
Although it might be difficult, going to the police is the best thing to do here. This person has broken the law and the police should be very interested in finding out who they are. There is a good chance they might have done this before to other people, so talking to them might be one piece of evidence in a bigger picture.
It’s very important to keep in mind that what's happened isn't your fault. When people make friends with a young person in order to take advantage of them, this is called grooming. Sometimes people can be very persuasive and make it feel like they’re going to reward you if you do what they want. When someone is grooming you, they’re only thinking about themselves - even if they make it seem like they’re helping you or that it's beneficial for both of you.
If you're not ready to talk to the police yet you can still get these images taken down from the porn sites if you’re under 18. Childline has a tool you can use to remove sexual images of yourself that someone has put online. The tool is called Report-Remove, there are instructions of how to do that on the page itself. Images can't always be removed but we work together with the Internet Watch Foundation who have good success at getting images taken down if they’re of underage people on public websites.
Childline is here to support you no matter what decision you make next, but one option that isn't a good idea is sending this person more images. The more you send them, the bigger the problem becomes so I wouldn't recommend doing that. You can talk to one of our counsellors to make sure you're coping with everything and getting the right emotional support at what is a very difficult and stressful time for you.
I hope this has helped, thanks for your letter.
Take care.
Sam
You can talk privately to a counsellor online or call 0800 1111 for free.
You can ask me about anything you want, there's nothing too big or small. I read every single letter but I can only answer a few each week. My replies are published here on my page.
