13f being blackmailed

[oliviaaaa]

Honestly this is just so overwhelming I don't even know where to begin.
I'm 13, and a girl. For like 6 months now I've been blackmailed by this group of absolute sickos into sending them nudes of me.
It started with a random request on Discord from a username I had never seen before. It was a picture of me that I recognized, but he had used AI to make it look like I was topless. He said if I didn't send him a pic of me in my bra within 5 minutes he was going to send this to everyone I know.
I was so freaked out I thought I was going to throw up, and it was just a bra pic so I did it. I'm sure you can guess how that worked he just kept asking for a little more each time, then bra and undies, then hand over my boobs, etc until I was sending him nudes. He is part of a group, I have to send them stuff every day and they sell my stuff Honestly I was just going to try and get through it but someone sent me a screenshot last week and I think they are planning something irl and I just am so overwhelmed.
I know everyone is just going to say go to the cops but I can't. They made me do something illegal, I'm so ashamed of it but I was scared. Does anyone hav any ideas? Like is there some way to scare them away?

[KierC]

Hey Olivia, welcome to Scarleteen. <3 I’m glad you’ve found us here, though I am so sorry it’s under these circumstances.

First, I want you to know that what this group is doing to you is NOT okay or legal, and I promise you it’s not your fault. You will not get in trouble for reporting this because they are blackmailing you. They put you in a situation where you felt you had no choice but to send photos, and threatened you into doing this. You are not a perpetrator here. If you did choose to report this, which I highly suggest doing in some way, you would not be in trouble with the police.

I would cease all contact with them and contact the police, or tell a trusted adult like a parent or a friend’s parent. Do you have someone you trust who you can tell today?

[oliviaaaa]

This group has almost 600 files of me. My family is religious fundamentalists who would 100% kick me out if they saw this. This group made me send stuff of people I know. I just cannot take the risk of everyone finding out about this.
I'm trying to figure out other ways of making this end

[Heather]

Hi there, oliviaaaa. I'm also so sorry you're being abused in this way.

The way you were blackmailed into giving them photos of you is not only a serious abuse, it is also a serious crime, called sextortion. I also want to make sure that YOU know that YOU have not committed any crimes here. Whoever is doing this to you is the one who committed crimes. People who give things to people because of blackmail are victims, not perpetrators.

When people do this, they never actually send nudes to everyone someone knows: that's what they say to scare you because, as you've experienced, it works. Unless you gave anyone your full name or your address or the name of your school, they can't know who you know to do that. Also, if they really did that, they'd be identifying themselves as people distributing child pornography, a risk none of the people who do this are going to take, because they usually know that would ruin their lives, not yours. That also makes me highly doubt they are selling your photos. I think they are also saying that to scare you (but if they are selling them, and they have said as much to you or anywhere public, once you at least report to one of the choices I gave you below, even them saying they did will get them in a lot of trouble).

They are trying to keep scaring you because they like doing it, it makes them feel powerful, and because it results in them getting nudes from someone they intimidated, which they also like. Nothing they say should be considered trustworthy or the truth, because it's all meant to scare you. People who do this to other people are deeply awful.

I'll toss out a few valid options of how you can deal with this, and we can talk through any of them you like. But before anything else, have you taken screenshots of all of these exchanges with them and saved those somewhere, like into a folder on your phone? You will want to collect and keep as much evidence of all of this as you can. If you haven't taken screenshots but you all the exchanges still exist online somewhere, I;d take the time to go take as many screenshots as you can first.

No matter what else, do NOT send them any more photos, no matter what is or isn't in them. Do not respond to them, period. Ignore any messages from them. I'd also suggest closing your account on Discord after reporting all this to them -- if you disappear your digital self well, then they can't keep engaging with you and blackmailing you.

If you think they got the photo they initially used of you from other social media, I'd lock those accounts down and make them private right away or just delete them, up to you. If you need help doing that with any platforms, we can walk you through it.

Your options right now with where to go from there are:

1) Telling your family so they can step in and go with you to the police to file a report and so that you don't have to worry anymore about your family finding out, because you've told them. If you think there is a possibility of them kicking you out if you do, we could find you a social services office to go to if that happens. What they would do is likely place you in temporary state custody (because kicking your kids out isn't actually lawful and is a signal of an abusive parent, which generally results in an investigation of the family) with a foster family or in a group home, which sounds like it might not actually be the worst thing, since it sounds like you may not feel safe with your family, period. You could also then report this crime to and with social services, who would help you through that reporting process.

But just so you're aware, sometimes young people kicked out get sent back home. So, if you think it would be really bad for you at home if that happened, I'd save anything that risked that until you try some other, less scary, options first.

2) You can report all of this to Discord: https://discord.com/safety/360044103651 ... to-discord I think you should at least do this because you can do so with very little information about you and not risk any reporting to your parents. It will also likely result in the accounts involved being suspended, which will probably put a stop to what they are doing to you.

3) You can -- and I suggest you do this no matter what -- report this to the CyberTipline and to a related service, TakeItDown: https://tidsubmit.ncmec.org/case/create?lang=en-us and https://report.cybertip.org/

You don't have to give your full name or contact information when you do this, but they will follow up with the authorities regardless, especially when you make clear that this is crime that involves a child (I know you're not a "child" but as far as the law is concerned, you are). TakeItDown will ask you to upload photos of you that were used to make the fakes. I would choose any that are *not* nudes, like the one they started with, or the one with you in your bra.

4) You could also try calling legal aid in your area to talk with a lawyer who could explain your options. I can't say what legal aid is like where you live, so I don't know if they will be willing to talk to a minor or not there, but the worst that can happen is that they say no. If you need help finding the number for legal aid where you are, we can help you find it.

How do these options sound? Do you want to talk about any of them?

Also, what are you doing to take care of yourself right now? Is there anything you can do, maybe just for an hour or so, to give yourself some extra care while you're feeling so scared and freaked out? Maybe take a long walk, listen to your favorite music, call a friend?