Scam explainer
Sextortion video call scam also called Video call blackmail, Nude video call scam, Sextortion
A new online contact makes a video call that plays an obscene clip, records your face and then demands money, often followed by fake 'police' calls.
AI-generated illustration by CyberShitty. Not a photograph or a document from the organisations named.
How it works
- A friendly profile, usually posing as a young woman, sends a request on Facebook, Instagram or a dating app and starts chatting.
- You get a WhatsApp video call; an explicit clip plays while your face is screen-recorded.
- Within minutes you receive the edited recording and a demand for money, with threats to send it to your family or post it online.
- A second wave follows from people posing as police, Crime Branch, CBI or 'YouTube officials' demanding payment to 'close the case' or 'delete the video'.
Composite example, not a real case
A friend request, a video call, and a demand for money
- Rahul, 24, a software tester in Hyderabad, accepts a friend request from a profile showing a young woman. She is friendly and chats with him every evening for two days.
- Late one night she video-calls him on a messaging app. An explicit clip plays on her side while his face is on screen. He ends the call within a minute.
- Minutes later he receives a recording of the call, edited to look worse, and a message: pay ₹15,000 or it goes to his family and his friends list.
- He pays ₹5,000 hoping it will end. A new number asks for more. Then a caller claiming to be a cyber police officer says a case is registered and offers to 'close' it for money.
- Rahul stops replying, takes screenshots of the chats, numbers and UPI IDs, calls 1930 about the money he sent, and files a complaint on cybercrime.gov.in.
Who gets targeted
Anyone with a social media or dating profile can be approached. The fake profile usually poses as a young woman, and the gang relies on shame to stop people seeking help.
Red flags
- A stranger moves quickly from a friend request to a video call.
- A video call where the other side shows explicit content straight away.
- Threats to share a recording unless you pay.
- Calls from 'police' or 'officials' offering to settle the matter for money.
What to do
- Do not pay; payment usually leads to more demands.
- Stop replying, but keep screenshots of the chats, numbers and payment requests.
- Report on cybercrime.gov.in (or call 1930 if money was paid) and ask your local cyber cell for help.
- Report the profile to the platform and the number through Chakshu on Sanchar Saathi, then block it.
- Tighten privacy settings and hide your friends list so the blackmailer cannot see your contacts.
How to protect yourself
- Decline video calls from people you have only just met online, however friendly the chat has been.
- Hide your friends and follower lists so a stranger cannot see who to threaten you with.
- Be wary when a new contact pushes quickly from a friend request to a private chat and then a video call.
- Keep your profile, phone number and workplace details visible to friends only, not the public.
- Remember that real police do not call to settle a case for money. Anyone who does is part of the scam.
- Save 1930 and cybercrime.gov.in in your phone now, so you know where to go if it happens.
Official tools, explained
- How to report cyber fraud in India: calling 1930 and filing on cybercrime.gov.in
- How to report a fraud call, SMS or WhatsApp message on Sanchar Saathi Chakshu
- How to check a phone number, UPI ID or website on I4C's suspect search
Step-by-step guideBlackmailed after a video call? What to do about sextortion, and how to get the clip taken down
The numbers
Sextortion is high-volume and low-value per case: roughly one in five complaints in 2025 (ThePrint). Citizen reports on Chakshu about doubled between 2024 and 2025 (PIB).
- Sextortion made up 19% of cyber fraud complaints in 2025 but only 4% of money lost, according to MHA data reported by ThePrint. — ThePrint — Cybercrime saw 24% spike in 2025. Indians lost Rs 22,495 crore, mainly in investment scams (21 Feb 2026)
- Chakshu reports of sextortion communications rose from 10,901 in 2024 to 21,189 in 2025, DoT told the Rajya Sabha. — PIB (DoT) — Chakshu facility of Sanchar Saathi: suspected fraud communications reported, Rajya Sabha reply (5 Feb 2026)
Questions people ask
Should I pay the blackmailer?
No. Paying does not buy deletion; it shows the gang you will pay, and it usually leads to more demands from new numbers. Stop replying, keep the evidence and report it.
Someone claiming to be from the police or CBI says a case is filed against me. Is it real?
The Home Ministry has warned that criminals pose as police, CBI and other agencies to blackmail people. Real police do not settle a case over the phone for money. Do not pay; report the number.
How do I get the clip taken down if it is posted?
Report it to the platform. Under the IT Rules, platforms must remove intimate or morphed images of you within two hours of your complaint, and you can appeal at gac.gov.in if they do not. Adults can also use StopNCII.org.
I did not lose any money. Should I still report it?
Yes. File on cybercrime.gov.in, which has sections for sexually explicit content and for other cyber crime, and report the number on Chakshu within 30 days. You are the victim of a crime, not the one who committed it.
Desk coverage
- Private video or deepfake of you going viral? How to stop copies and get it removed fast
- Instagram or Facebook hacked, or a fake profile of you? How to recover, and the 2-hour rule
- Installed an app from a link or ad? How Accessibility malware takes over phones, and what to do
- Navratri garba: fake passes, 'rent a garba partner' ads police flagged, and pay-first links
Sources
- ThePrint — Cybercrime saw 24% spike in 2025. Indians lost Rs 22,495 crore, mainly in investment scams (21 Feb 2026)
- PIB (DoT) — Chakshu facility of Sanchar Saathi: suspected fraud communications reported, Rajya Sabha reply (5 Feb 2026)
- PIB (MHA) — Alert against 'Blackmail' and 'Digital Arrest' by cyber criminals impersonating police, NCB, CBI, RBI (14 May 2024)
- National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (MHA) — FAQ
- Sanchar Saathi (DoT) — Chakshu: Report suspected fraud communication
- Gazette of India (MeitY) — IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Amendment Rules, 2026, G.S.R. 120(E) (10 Feb 2026)
- MeitY — IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, updated to 6 Apr 2023
- MeitY — Standard Operating Procedure to curtail dissemination of Non-Consensual Intimate Imagery content (Nov 2025)
- PIB (MeitY) — MeitY issues SOP to curtail dissemination of NCII content (11 Nov 2025)
- StopNCII.org — How it works
- PIB (MoHFW) — Tele-MANAS launched; 24x7 toll-free number 14416 (10 Oct 2022)
- PIB (MoHFW) — Update on Tele-MANAS (6 Feb 2026)
- PIB (MWCD) — Mission Vatsalya: Child Helpline 1098 integrated with ERSS-112 (30 Jul 2025)
- The Tribune — Man loses Rs 39K in sextortion scam via social media, accused nabbed (6 Oct 2025)
- ThePrint — Social media friend requests, video calls, chats: how sextortion gangs run (23 Dec 2021)