Updated September 2026 | The Bulldog Law | California Sex Crimes and Federal Defense
Sextortion is extortion in which the leverage is sexual: a threat to share someone's intimate images, or to expose sexual information, unless they pay money, send more images, or perform sexual acts. California prosecutes it as extortion under Penal Code 518, which since 2018 expressly counts sexual images and sexual conduct as things that can be extorted, a felony punishable by two, three, or four years in prison. When the demand was made but the target didn't comply, the charge is attempted extortion under Penal Code 524.
When the target is under 18, state child pornography charges and federal production charges carrying a fifteen-year mandatory minimum are routinely added. And for anyone on the receiving end of the threat, the answer is the same from the FBI and from our attorneys: do not pay, do not delete, and report it.
The Bulldog Law's attorneys see sextortion from both directions. Families call because a teenager is being threatened by an account that appeared two days ago and now wants $500 by midnight. And people call because they have been accused, sometimes after a relationship ended badly, sometimes after a message they thought was a joke, sometimes after an account they didn't control sent something they never saw. Both calls need the same information about how the law works and what happens next, and both need it fast. Call (888) 928-1609 or message our team; the section that applies to you is below.
How California defines it: Penal Code 518 after 2018
Extortion in California is obtaining property or an official act from another person, with their consent, where the consent was induced by a wrongful use of force or fear. Penal Code 518 sets the definition; Penal Code 519 lists the threats that count, including a threat to expose a secret affecting the victim or to expose them to disgrace; and Penal Code 520 sets the sentence at two, three, or four years. For decades, prosecutors charging sextortion had to argue that sexual images or sexual acts were property. In 2018 the Legislature ended the argument by amending Penal Code 518 to state that consideration for purposes of extortion includes sexual conduct and images of an intimate body part. A threat to post someone's nude photos unless they send more, or unless they meet you, is now extortion by the plain words of the statute, and our attorneys treat the general extortion rules as the starting point for every sextortion case.
Two details in the statute shape the charge. First, completed extortion requires that the victim actually complied, paid, sent, or did what was demanded. If they refused, the offense is attempted extortion under Penal Code 524, a wobbler that can be a misdemeanor or a felony. Second, a threat sent in writing, including a text, DM, or email, can be charged under Penal Code 523, extortion by threatening letter, which carries the same felony sentence whether or not the victim complied. Most sextortion is in writing, so 523 is where prosecutors go when the target held firm.
The statutes that get stacked
Sextortion rarely arrives as a single count. If the images were actually posted or sent to someone else, Penal Code 647(j)(4), California's revenge porn statute, is added; since 2024 it covers AI-generated and altered images as well as real ones. If the threat included violence, Penal Code 422 criminal threats. If the target was a minor, Penal Code 311.4 and 311.11, which criminalize causing a minor to produce sexual images and possessing them, and which carry mandatory sex offender registration; California's 2024 amendments extended those statutes to AI-generated images of minors, a topic our attorneys address on our child pornography and animated and AI-generated content pages. Penal Code 288.2, sending harmful matter to a minor, and 288.3, contacting a minor with intent to commit a sexual offense, round out the state charges.
Federal sextortion charges
Because sextortion happens on platforms and across state lines, federal prosecutors have jurisdiction over most of it, and they use it when the target is a minor or the scheme is large. The federal statutes: 18 U.S.C. 875(d), transmitting an interstate threat to injure someone's reputation with intent to extort, up to two years; 18 U.S.C. 2422(b), coercing or enticing a minor into sexual activity, ten years to life; and, most consequentially, 18 U.S.C. 2251, production of child pornography, which applies whenever a defendant caused a minor to create a sexual image, and which carries a mandatory minimum of fifteen years with no parole. A 19-year-old who pressured a 16-year-old into sending one photo has, in a federal indictment, produced child pornography. The federal sentencing process leaves judges little room below the minimum, which is why our attorneys' first goal in any case involving a minor is to keep it in state court or out of the production statute.
In 2025, Congress passed and the President signed the TAKE IT DOWN Act, which makes it a federal crime to publish non-consensual intimate images, real or AI-generated, and requires platforms to remove such images within 48 hours of a valid request from the victim, a duty that took effect in May 2026. It is the first federal removal mechanism, and it changes what a target can do the day the threat arrives.
The financial sextortion wave
Most sextortion in 2026 is not a former partner. It is a scam. Beginning around 2021, organized groups, many operating from overseas, began targeting teenage boys through Instagram, Snapchat, and gaming platforms with accounts posing as young women. The account flirts, sends or offers an image, asks for one back, and then the tone changes: a screenshot of the boy's followers list, a demand for gift cards or a cash-app payment, a countdown. The FBI has linked dozens of suicides to these schemes, and the FBI's sextortion resources now lead with the message that the victim is not in trouble and should tell someone.
The pattern matters for defense too, because the perpetrators are usually unreachable and the person who ends up in a California courtroom is sometimes a local teenager or young adult whose account was used, who forwarded something, or who copied the scheme after being a target himself. Distinguishing the organizer from the participant, and the participant from the account that was compromised, is the work of the early investigation, and it is where the signs of a weak case show up first.
If you are being sextorted
Our attorneys give the same instructions to every family that calls, and they match the FBI's.
Stop responding. Do not negotiate, do not send anything, do not pay. Payment does not make the images go away; it confirms you'll pay again. Do not delete anything: the messages, the profile, the images, the payment requests are evidence, and screenshots of the account name, URL, and every message should be saved before you block. Then block the account and, on the platform, report it. Report to the FBI at ic3.gov and, if the target is under 18, to NCMEC at CyberTipline.org. NCMEC's Take It Down service helps minors get images removed from participating platforms without the images ever leaving the victim's device, and the TAKE IT DOWN Act now gives every victim, adult or minor, a 48-hour removal right against the platform.
Two things people fear and shouldn't. A minor who sent an image of themselves is a victim, and California prosecutors do not charge children for their own exploitation. And the threatened posting, in the financial scams, mostly does not happen: the scammer's only asset is the fear, and following through ends the leverage. That is not a guarantee, and a threat from someone who actually knows the victim is different, which is why the first call in a targeted case should be to a lawyer who can send a preservation demand and, where the perpetrator is identifiable, a cease-and-desist backed by the criminal statutes above.
If you are accused
A sextortion accusation carries every consequence a sex crime does before anything is proven: an arrest, a search of every device, a protective order, and, if a minor is involved, the prospect of federal charges. The defenses are real.
No threat. Extortion requires a threat that induced fear. A sarcastic message, a message that was part of a mutual argument about deleting images, or a statement that was never intended to be received as a threat is where many cases begin and end. Context, the full conversation, and the relationship history are the defense, which is why deleting anything is as bad an idea for the accused as for the target.
No demand, or no intent to obtain. A threat to post images out of anger, without a demand, may be revenge porn or nothing, but it is not extortion, which requires the intent to obtain something. Prosecutors sometimes charge 518 where the evidence supports only 647(j)(4), a misdemeanor.
Identity. Accounts are hacked, shared, and spoofed. The overseas scam operations described above routinely use compromised or cloned profiles of real people, and the real person is the one police can find. Device forensics that show where the messages actually originated are the defense.
Consent and age. In cases involving images, whether the image was created consensually and whether the person depicted was an adult are elements of the possession and production charges, and mistake of age has limits our attorneys explain in every case involving a minor.
The interview. Sextortion investigations begin with a detective asking the accused to explain a message, and the explanation becomes the case. The right to remain silent exists for exactly this. Our attorneys speak to investigators so that clients don't have to, and the difference between a client who talked and one who didn't is often the difference between a state misdemeanor and a federal indictment.
Where the evidence is strong, the negotiation is about the statute: an attempted extortion or 647(j)(4) plea instead of 518, a state resolution instead of a federal one, and above all a case that ends without registration. For non-citizens, extortion is a crime involving moral turpitude, and any charge involving a minor is an aggravated felony, so the immigration analysis runs alongside the criminal one from the first day. For minors accused of sextorting other minors, the case is in juvenile court, where the outcomes are different and the stakes, registration included, are still serious.
Frequently asked questions
What is sextortion in simple terms?
Sextortion is a threat to share someone's sexual images or information unless they do what the person demands: pay money, send more images, or perform sexual acts. It's extortion where the leverage is sexual. In California it is prosecuted as extortion under Penal Code 518, which since 2018 expressly treats sexual images and sexual conduct as things that can be extorted, and it's a felony with up to four years in prison.
Is sextortion a felony in California?
Yes. Completed extortion under Penal Code 518, where the victim actually complied, is a straight felony carrying two, three, or four years. If the victim didn't comply, the charge is attempted extortion under Penal Code 524, a wobbler. When the victim is a minor, state child pornography charges and federal production charges with mandatory minimums of fifteen years are commonly added, and those carry sex offender registration.
I'm being sextorted. Should I pay?
No. Paying does not end it; in the financial scams, it marks you as someone who pays, and the demands escalate. The FBI's guidance, which our attorneys agree with, is to stop responding, do not delete anything, save every message and profile, block the account, and report it to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center and the platform. If the victim is under 18, NCMEC's Take It Down service can help get images removed, and the new federal TAKE IT DOWN Act requires platforms to remove them within 48 hours of a valid request.
Can a teenager be charged for sextortion of another teenager?
Yes. Minors are charged in juvenile court under the same statutes, and a minor who obtains and threatens to share another minor's images can face extortion and child pornography allegations. The images themselves are contraband regardless of who created them. Juvenile court focuses on rehabilitation, but a sustained petition on a sex offense can carry registration in serious cases, so these matters need a defense lawyer from the first interview.
Does a sextortion conviction require sex offender registration?
Not for extortion alone. Penal Code 518 is not a registrable offense, although a judge can order registration under Penal Code 290.006 in a case with a sexual motive. When the case includes child pornography charges under Penal Code 311, registration is mandatory, and the federal production statute carries lifetime registration. Keeping the case to an extortion count, or resolving it below that, is often the central goal of the defense.
Related reading from our attorneys
- Extortion under Penal Code 518
- California's revenge porn law, Penal Code 647(j)(4)
- Sex offender registration tiers under Penal Code 290
Being threatened, or accused? Call before you send another message
The Bulldog Law's sex crimes and federal defense attorneys handle sextortion cases across California, in state and federal court, and we help targets and their families stop the threat and preserve the evidence. Visit our criminal defense page, call (888) 928-1609, or reach us online. The conversation is confidential, and the sooner it happens, the more options exist.