Internet blackmail and sextortion: how to stop it and protect your identity

By Yair Cohen, Solicitor specialising in internet law

If someone is blackmailing you online, the most important things you can do are to stop engaging, preserve the evidence, and not pay. A specialist solicitor can then move quickly to protect you: we can apply for an emergency injunction to prevent your name or the material being published, ask the court to keep your identity anonymous on the papers, work to identify who is behind the threat, and press the platforms to take the content down. In urgent cases an injunction can be obtained within a day or two, and sometimes the same day, including at a weekend.

You do not have to go to the police first, and many of our clients prefer not to. Going to a solicitor before anyone else means your private messages and images stay within a confidential legal relationship, and we can usually secure your anonymity before the matter ever becomes a court record. For people in public life, in business, or simply with a family and a reputation to protect, keeping control of the information is often the whole point.

We act for clients in the UK and for international clients, particularly in the United States, whose blackmailer or whose evidence is based here. Where the person threatening you is in the UK, or the images sit with a UK or US platform, English law gives a victim real leverage: emergency injunctions, court orders to unmask anonymous wrongdoers, and no First Amendment or Section 230 shield for the blackmailer to hide behind.

Is blackmail a crime in the UK?

Yes. Blackmail is a serious criminal offence under section 21 of the Theft Act 1968, carrying a maximum sentence of fourteen years' imprisonment. In law, blackmail is making an unwarranted demand with menaces, with a view to gain or to cause loss. In plainer terms, it is someone telling you that they will do something you do not want, usually expose information or images, unless you give them what they are demanding, usually money or more images.

It does not matter whether what the blackmailer threatens to reveal is true, false, embarrassing or even something you did willingly. The crime is in the threat and the demand, not in the underlying secret. That is worth holding on to, because blackmailers rely on their victims feeling too ashamed or exposed to come forward. The law is on the victim's side here. For a fuller explanation of how the offence works and what counts as a menace, see our guide on whether blackmail is illegal in the UK.

What to do if someone is blackmailing you

The single best move is to take advice before you do anything else, and in particular before you pay or reply at length. Paying almost never ends the matter; it tells the blackmailer that the threat works, and a second demand usually follows the first. Beyond that, there is a clear order of priorities we take clients through.

First, stop communicating, but do not delete anything. The messages, the profile, the payment requests and the images the blackmailer has sent are your evidence, and the court will want to see them. Take screenshots that capture usernames, dates and times. Second, do not pay, and do not be rushed; the urgency is something the blackmailer manufactures to stop you thinking clearly. Third, secure your accounts, change passwords and tighten privacy settings so the blackmailer cannot reach further into your life while the matter is dealt with. Fourth, take specialist legal advice, ideally before going to the police, so that your anonymity can be protected from the outset.

From there, the legal route generally runs in two parallel strands: protecting you now, through an injunction and anonymity, and dealing with the blackmailer, through identification and, where you want it, a claim or a criminal complaint. The two strands are explained below.

The crime of blackmail is in the threat and the demand, not in the secret. Whether the thing the blackmailer threatens to reveal is true or false, embarrassing or innocent, the law treats you as the victim, not the wrongdoer.

Protecting your identity and stopping publication

The fastest protection is usually an emergency injunction combined with an anonymity order, and a specialist solicitor can often obtain both within a day or two. An injunction is a court order that forbids the blackmailer from publishing or sharing the material, or from contacting or harassing you. An anonymity order keeps your real name off the public court file, so that only the judge and the lawyers know who you are; the case proceeds under initials, as in the reported blackmail injunction matter XLD v KZL.

One point worth understanding is that there is no standalone civil claim called "blackmail" in English law. Blackmail is a criminal offence; the civil injunction that protects you is built on the law of harassment, under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997, and on the misuse of private information, where you have a reasonable expectation of privacy in what the blackmailer is threatening to expose. That is the legal footing on which these orders are granted, and it is well-established.

This is why coming to a solicitor before the police matters so much. Once we have filed the papers anonymously, we can apply for the injunction immediately, and in genuinely urgent cases the court will hear the application out of hours, including at weekends, often without notice to the blackmailer so they cannot carry out the threat before the order is in place. The order can be served on the blackmailer and, where needed, on the platforms hosting the material, so that the threat is contained before anything is published. Where the blackmailer is threatening to tell your spouse or family, as is common, the same protection applies; our guide for someone facing a blackmailer trying to ruin their marriage deals with that situation, and our page on blackmail injunctions explains how the orders are obtained and how quickly.

Sextortion and intimate-image blackmail

Sextortion is blackmail using intimate or sexual images, and it is one of the most common matters we are asked to help with. The pattern is familiar: an online relationship that moves quickly, a request to exchange explicit images or to go on camera, and then a demand for money or for more material, with a threat to send what the blackmailer has to your family, employer or followers. The National Crime Agency now calls this financially motivated sexual extortion, and reports of it have risen sharply.

The law has caught up with this. As well as the blackmail offence under the Theft Act 1968, it is now a specific criminal offence under section 66B of the Sexual Offences Act 2003, inserted by the Online Safety Act 2023 and in force since 31 January 2024, to threaten to share an intimate image. Importantly, the offence is committed even if the image does not actually exist or was never really in the blackmailer's hands, which removes one of the threats blackmailers most often rely on. Alongside the criminal law, the civil remedies, an injunction, anonymity and a claim for misuse of private information, give you a way to stop publication and to be compensated.

If images have already been shared, the priority shifts to removal as well as containment. Our guides on what to do if someone is blackmailing you for sex, on what to do if someone threatens to upload your intimate pictures, and on how to remove revenge porn from the internet set out the steps in detail. The anonymised blackmailed for sex case study shows how one such matter was resolved.

Blackmail across borders: for US and international clients

If you are overseas and the person extorting you, or the platform holding your images, is in the UK, a UK firm can often do what a purely domestic lawyer at home cannot. We regularly act for clients in the United States and elsewhere in cross-border sextortion and online extortion matters. English law gives an overseas victim three things that are hard to get from the US courts alone: an emergency injunction against the wrongdoer, a court order to unmask an anonymous blackmailer, and remedies that are not blocked by the First Amendment or by the Section 230 immunity that protects US platforms.

The mechanics of a cross-border case usually combine routes on both sides of the Atlantic. To identify a UK-based blackmailer we use a disclosure order to unmask the person behind an anonymous account, the English Norwich Pharmacal jurisdiction, established in Norwich Pharmacal Co v Customs and Excise Commissioners [1974] AC 133. Where the evidence sits with a US-headquartered platform, we pair that with a discovery application in the United States under 28 U.S.C. § 1782, which lets a litigant obtain evidence in the US for use in proceedings abroad. A UK injunction then holds the position while the identification work is done. Our work for international clients sits within our cross-jurisdiction internet law practice for international clients.

You also never need to travel or attend court in person. We can bring the entire application on your behalf and, in most cases, under a pseudonym with a court order anonymising you, so the matter is handled remotely and your identity stays between you, the judge and us.

A blackmail case we handled

One matter shows how quickly the right steps can end a long ordeal. Our client, a married US businessman who visited the UK for work, met a woman through the dating site Seeking Arrangement. After their messages turned explicit, she asked him to send a payment through PayPal, which exposed his identity, and the demands began. Over ten months she extracted around £125,000, backed by threats to tell his family, while he told no one and, in his distress, deleted much of the evidence.

We recovered enough of the emails and payment records to prove the blackmail, instructed a private investigator who established the blackmailer's true name and address, and then applied for an emergency injunction. We first had our client anonymised so his name never appeared on the court file, and the injunction was granted without notice and served on the blackmailer in person, which brought the matter to an abrupt end. The full account is on our XLD v KZL blackmail injunction case study. His own reflection was that he wished he had come to us sooner.

What it costs and what to expect

Every matter starts with an initial consultation with a solicitor, so you know where you stand before committing to anything further. On that call we tell you honestly whether an injunction is realistic, what the likely route is, and what it should cost. How much a matter costs depends entirely on what it takes to resolve: some are settled with a single firm approach to the blackmailer, others need an emergency injunction, and a few need identification work as well. We set out how we charge below.

As for outcomes, the realistic shape of a resolution is usually this: the material is contained and not published, your name is kept out of the public record, and in many cases the blackmailer, once identified and served with a court order, stops. Where you want to go further, the routes are a civil claim for damages, a harassment injunction, or a criminal complaint to the police, and we will talk you through which of those is worth pursuing in your situation. We are also straight with you about risk: no solicitor can guarantee that a determined, anonymous, overseas blackmailer will be caught, and we would rather say so on the first call than after you have spent on a route that cannot reach them.

Why clients come to Cohen Davis

Cohen Davis is a specialist internet law firm, regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, and blackmail and sextortion are among the matters we handle most often. Our solicitors have acted in reported blackmail injunction cases, are regularly asked by the national press to comment on online blackmail and sextortion, and act for private individuals, people in public life and businesses, in the UK and abroad. For the commercial, business-facing side of this work, our blackmail solicitors page sets out how we act for companies and high-profile individuals facing extortion.

What clients tell us they value most is the combination of speed and discretion: a confidential first conversation, a clear view of whether an injunction is achievable, and the ability to move the same day when it matters. If a blackmailer has given you a deadline, that is exactly the situation these remedies were built for.

Frequently asked questions

Should I pay a blackmailer to make them go away?

No. Paying almost never ends the matter; it confirms to the blackmailer that the threat works, and a further demand usually follows. The better course is to stop engaging, preserve the evidence and take advice on an injunction, which stops the threat without rewarding it.

Do I have to go to the police?

No, and many clients prefer not to, at least not first. Coming to a solicitor before the police means your private messages and images stay within a confidential legal relationship, and we can usually protect your anonymity before the matter becomes any kind of public record. You can still report to the police later if you choose, and we can help you do so.

How quickly can I get an injunction?

Often within a day or two, and in genuinely urgent cases the same day, including at weekends, when the court will hear an out-of-hours application. The timing depends on the evidence being ready, which is one reason to call early rather than wait.

Can the blackmailer be identified if they are anonymous?

Frequently, yes. A Norwich Pharmacal disclosure order requires the platform, bank or payment processor to hand over the information needed to identify the person behind an account, and where the evidence sits with a US company we add a discovery application under 28 U.S.C. § 1782. Identification is not guaranteed against a sophisticated overseas operator, and we will give you a realistic view on the first call.

I am in the United States and the blackmailer is in the UK. Can you help?

Yes. This is exactly the cross-border situation where a UK firm can act where a domestic lawyer cannot. English law offers an emergency injunction, a court order to unmask the blackmailer, and remedies that are not blocked by the First Amendment or Section 230. We coordinate the UK and US sides of the matter for you.

Do I need to attend court or be identified to get an injunction?

No. You do not need to be present, and in most cases you do not need to be identified either. We can run the entire injunction application on your behalf without you attending court. Where privacy matters, and it almost always does, we present your case under a pseudonym and apply for a court order to anonymise you completely, so that only the judge and your legal team ever know your real identity. For clients overseas, including in the United States, it means the whole matter can be handled remotely and privately, without you ever setting foot in a UK courtroom.

Will my employer, family or followers find out?

Protecting against exactly that is the purpose of the anonymity order and the injunction. The order keeps your name off the public court file and forbids the blackmailer from publishing or sharing the material. No remedy is risk-free, but these tools are designed to keep the information contained and out of the hands of the people you are worried about.

For a worked example of how an English firm stops this kind of blackmail for an overseas client, see our case study on the case of a Florida couple blackmailed by a UK family member.