Extortion and Blackmail Laws by State: Penalties and Sextortion (2026)

Yes. Extortion and blackmail are crimes across the United States, under state criminal codes and, when a threat travels across state lines, through the mail or affects commerce, under federal law. Extortion is using a threat (of violence, of accusing someone of a crime, of exposing a secret, and similar harms) to get money, property or some other act out of another person. Blackmail is the everyday word for the "pay me or I tell" version of that threat, and only a handful of states use it as the legal name of an offense. Sextortion is extortion in which the threat or the demand involves sexual images or sexual acts, and 22 states now have a separate sexual extortion statute.

Information last verified on October 17, 2026. This article has not been reviewed by a licensed lawyer.

Jurisdiction scope: This hub compares the criminal extortion, blackmail, coercion and sexual extortion statutes of the 50 states and the District of Columbia, each summarized from its own state page (linked in the table below), and the federal extortion and threat statutes. It does not cover what to do if you are being threatened or how to get images taken down (see our sextortion scams guide), the crime of posting intimate images itself (see revenge porn laws by state), civil lawsuits beyond a few statutes named below, or city and county ordinances.

Extortion, blackmail and sextortion: what the words mean

The three words describe overlapping conduct, and the law uses them less consistently than everyday speech does.

Extortion is the umbrella term: a threat used to obtain property, money, services or some act from another person. The federal Hobbs Act gives a standard definition (federal law):

"The term "extortion" means the obtaining of property from another, with his consent, induced by wrongful use of actual or threatened force, violence, or fear, or under color of official right." 18 U.S.C. 1951(b)(2)

California's Penal Code 518(a) uses nearly the same words, adding "other consideration" and "the obtaining of an official act of a public officer." The phrase "with his or her consent" is what separates extortion from robbery: the person hands the property over, but the consent was produced by fear. Some states go further and punish the threat itself, whether or not anything changes hands. Nevada's NRS 205.320 applies "whether or not the purpose is accomplished," and Massachusetts punishes the malicious threat made with intent to extort under G.L. c. 265, section 25.

Blackmail is the everyday word for one kind of extortion: a threat to reveal something damaging, true or false, unless the person pays or does what is demanded. Most states do not use it as the name of a crime. Where they do, it usually covers threats to accuse someone of a crime or to expose information that would bring ridicule or contempt.

Sextortion is extortion in which the threat is to share sexual images, or the demand is for sexual images or sexual acts, or both. The U.S. Department of Justice described it this way in a 2016 U.S. Attorneys' Bulletin:

"Sextortion is one form of cyber extortion. It occurs when individuals demand that the victims provide them with sexual images, sexual favors, or other things of value."

Federal law has no offense named sextortion, but since 2025 a federal statute covers threats to publish intimate images for the purpose of extortion or coercion (see the federal section below), and many states have added their own sexual extortion crimes.

How states charge extortion: three models

The state pages show three basic ways of charging extortion. A state often uses two or even all three, so the counts below overlap.

1. A stand-alone extortion or blackmail offense. The code has a crime of its own, usually named extortion (sometimes blackmail, or a descriptive title such as Nevada's "Threats" or Michigan's "Malicious threats to extort money"), with a penalty set in that section or by its own degrees rather than by the general theft value tiers. Thirty jurisdictions use this model: Alabama, Alaska, California, Colorado, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Florida, Hawaii, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming. Alabama and Delaware place their extortion offense in the theft part of the code but give it its own name and grade. Most of these offenses carry one grade whatever the amount demanded; Hawaii, Mississippi and Maryland's section 3-701 are exceptions that grade by value.

2. Extortion as theft. The charge is theft (or larceny or stealing) "by extortion," "by threat" or "by coercion," and many of these states folded the old separate crimes of extortion and blackmail into a single theft offense. Twenty-three states describe this route: Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and Wyoming. For 18 of them it is the main route, because the state has no general stand-alone extortion or blackmail offense.

The theft model splits on grading:

• Graded at least partly by value (17 states): Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and Wyoming. In most of them a small demand can be a misdemeanor and a large one a serious felony. Texas, for example, runs theft by coercion from a Class C misdemeanor (under $100) to a first-degree felony ($300,000 or more) under Tex. Penal Code 31.03(e). New York sets a felony floor instead: property obtained by extortion is at least a class E felony at any value (Penal Law 155.30(6)), and the value-based grand larceny degrees still apply above it, class D over $3,000 (155.35(1)), class C over $50,000 (155.40(1)) and class B over $1 million (155.42).
• One grade regardless of value (6 states): Arizona (class 4 felony, class 2 for death or serious-injury threats), Connecticut (larceny in the first degree, a class B felony), Georgia (1 to 10 years), Idaho (grand theft), Maine (Class C) and New Jersey (second degree). New Jersey's grading statute, 2C:20-2b(1)(b), makes theft second degree whenever "The property is taken by extortion," and Connecticut's 53a-122(a)(1) applies "regardless of its nature and value."

3. Coercion or intimidation. A separate offense punishes threats used to make someone do, or stop doing, something, with no property demand needed. Seventeen states describe one on their pages: Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Washington. In three states this is the closest offense to extortion itself. Minnesota charges blackmail-type threats as coercion under Minn. Stat. 609.27, graded by the gain or loss involved, and its theft statute has no clause for obtaining property by threat. Illinois and Indiana have no crime named extortion or blackmail; they pair an intimidation offense (720 ILCS 5/12-6, a Class 3 felony; IC 35-45-2-1, a Class A misdemeanor by default) with theft by threat.

How we counted. Each jurisdiction was placed by the offenses its own state page describes. A jurisdiction counts in a model if its page names an offense of that type, so Kansas, Ohio and Wyoming count in both the first and second models, and Arkansas or New Jersey count in the second and third. The counts cover only the offenses those pages describe.

Which states use the word "blackmail"?

Seven jurisdictions use blackmail as the name, or part of the name, of an offense:

• District of Columbia: Blackmail, D.C. Code § 22-3252 (up to 5 years), separate from extortion under § 22-3251 (up to 10 years).
• Kansas: Blackmail, K.S.A. 21-5428, rewritten effective July 1, 2026, alongside a narrow extortion offense (21-6501) for protection and price-fixing demands on businesses.
• North Carolina: Blackmailing, G.S. 14-118, an older and narrower Class 1 misdemeanor that sits beside the Class F felony of extortion (14-118.4).
• Oklahoma: Blackmail, 21 O.S. 1488, a Class D1 felony separate from extortion under 1481 to 1483.
• Rhode Island: a single offense titled "Extortion and blackmail," R.I. Gen. Laws 11-42-2.
• South Carolina: Blackmail, S.C. Code 16-17-640, the state's main threat-for-money crime.
• Wyoming: Blackmail, W.S. 6-2-402, which by its subsection (e) embraces "the separate crimes formerly known as blackmail and extortion."

In a few theft-model states the word survives only in the consolidation statute that abolished it as a separate crime: Arkansas (5-36-102), Maine (17-A M.R.S. 351), New Hampshire (RSA 637:1), North Dakota (12.1-23-01) and Utah (76-6-403) each list blackmail among the former offenses now charged as theft.

What kinds of threats count?

Each statute has its own list, and the list matters: a threat that is not on it does not fit that offense. Most lists share a common core.

• Violence or property damage. Threats of bodily injury, confinement or damage to property appear on almost every list. Several states grade these more heavily: Alabama makes them first-degree extortion (13A-8-14), Washington first-degree extortion (RCW 9A.56.120), and New York grand larceny in the second degree (Penal Law 155.40(2)).
• Accusing someone of a crime. Florida (836.05), Massachusetts (c. 265, section 25), Michigan (MCL 750.213) and Vermont (13 V.S.A. 1701) all list a threat to accuse another of a crime. Michigan's and Vermont's lists stop at accusations and injury to person or property.
• Exposing a secret or damaging fact. Many lists cover exposing a secret or publicizing an asserted fact "whether true or false," as in Alaska (AS 11.41.520(a)(3)), New Jersey (2C:20-5c) and Idaho (18-2403(2)(e)), so under those clauses a threat to reveal something true still counts. Oregon's list (ORS 164.075) has no clause for exposing a secret as such.
• Official action, testimony and catch-alls. Many lists add threats to take or withhold official action, to testify or withhold testimony about another's legal claim, and a catch-all, such as Alaska's "any other harm which would not benefit the person making the threat or suggestion" (AS 11.41.520(a)(7)) or New Jersey's paragraph g.

Immigration status. Several states name a threat to report someone's immigration status: California Penal Code 519, Colorado's separate form of criminal extortion in C.R.S. 18-3-207(1.5), D.C. Code § 22-3252(a)(5), Maryland (Crim. Law § 3-701, which also covers the destruction, concealment, removal, confiscation or possession of an immigration or government identification document with intent to harm a person's immigration status), Oklahoma's blackmail statute (21 O.S. 1488), Oregon (ORS 164.075) and Virginia (§ 18.2-59, which also covers withholding someone's passport or immigration documents). Hawaii lists threats to destroy, conceal or possess a passport or immigration document (HRS 707-764).

Intimate images. Some general statutes name image threats directly. D.C.'s blackmail statute covers a threat to distribute "a photograph, video, or audio recording, whether authentic or inauthentic" (§ 22-3252(a)(4)); Kansas blackmail covers threats to disseminate nude or sexual images, including AI-altered ones (21-5428(a)(2)); Nebraska's theft by extortion list includes distributing an intimate image without consent (28-513(1)(g)); and Minnesota's coercion statute lists a threat to commit its private-image crime (609.27, clause (6)). California and West Virginia define what can be extorted to include sexual conduct and intimate images (Cal. Penal Code 518(b); W. Va. Code 61-2-13(b)), and Washington's definition "specifically includes sexual favors" (RCW 9A.56.110).

A struck clause. In State v. Jorgenson (Minn. 2020), the Minnesota Supreme Court held clause (4) of Minnesota's coercion statute, a threat to expose a secret or otherwise expose a person to disgrace or ridicule, facially overbroad under the First Amendment. Its words remain in the printed statute.

Sextortion laws by state

States with a statute titled sexual extortion. Twenty-two states have one. Each link goes to that state's page:

• Alabama, Ala. Code 13A-6-241 (Class B felony)
• Arizona, A.R.S. 13-1428 (class 3 felony; class 2 for victims under 18)
• Arkansas, Ark. Code Ann. 5-14-113 (Class B felony)
• Delaware, 11 Del. C. 774 (class E felony; class B in aggravated cases)
• Georgia, O.C.G.A. 16-11-92 (victims over 18 only; misdemeanor of a high and aggravated nature, then felony)
• Kansas, K.S.A. 21-5515, amended by Caleb's Law in 2026
• Kentucky, KRS 531.125 (since June 27, 2025)
• Maryland, Crim. Law § 3-709 (up to 10 years)
• Michigan, MCL 750.213b (since April 2, 2025)
• Minnesota, Minn. Stat. 609.3458 (compelled sexual contact or penetration)
• Mississippi, 2024 Laws ch. 443 (HB 1196)
• New Jersey, N.J.S. 2C:14-9.1 (third degree; second degree aggravated)
• North Carolina, G.S. 14-202.7 (Class F felony for an adult; Class E aggravated)
• North Dakota, N.D.C.C. 12.1-20-12.3
• Ohio, R.C. 2905.11(D)-(E), Braden's Law
• Pennsylvania, 18 Pa.C.S. 3133
• South Carolina, S.C. Code 16-15-430, Gavin's Law
• Utah, Utah Code 76-5b-204, with aggravated sexual extortion in 76-5b-204.1
• Vermont, 13 V.S.A. 2607 (since July 1, 2026)
• Virginia, Va. Code § 18.2-59.1
• West Virginia, W. Va. Code 61-8B-6 (since June 12, 2025)
• Wisconsin, Wis. Stat. 942.095 (2025 Wisconsin Act 48)

These statutes are not uniform. Some turn on a threat involving the images themselves (Michigan, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia); others also reach threats to property, reputation or a person's safety used to obtain sexual acts or images (Alabama, Kansas, Kentucky, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin). Some cover a demand for money backed by an image threat, such as Arkansas's subdivision (a)(4), Kansas's 2026 amendment, Pennsylvania's 3133(c) and Wisconsin's 942.095(2)(c). Virginia's statute applies only when the sexual act results, with a failed threat charged as attempted sexual extortion, and Georgia's reaches only victims more than 18 years of age.

Image threats under other names. Several states with no sexual extortion title still have an offense aimed at intimate-image threats or demands: Colorado (C.R.S. 18-7-107 and 18-7-108), Hawaii (HRS 711-1110.9), Idaho (18-6605 and, for fabricated images, 18-6606(1)(c)), Missouri (RSMo 573.112), Montana (45-8-213), Nebraska (28-311.08(5)), Nevada (NRS 200.785, demands for payment to remove an image), Oklahoma (21 O.S. 1040.13b(G)), Rhode Island (11-64-3(e) and (f)), Tennessee (39-17-1906, digitally altered images), Texas (sexual coercion, 21.18, and threats to disclose, 21.16(c)) and Wyoming (6-4-307(a)(iii), synthetic material, since July 1, 2026). New York's coercion statute (Penal Law 135.60) covers compelling someone to produce or display nude or sexual images, and D.C.'s blackmail statute covers threats to distribute recordings. In the remaining states, the general extortion, theft or coercion statute applies where its threat list reaches the conduct.

When the victim is a minor. Many sexual extortion statutes raise the grade when an adult targets someone under 18: for example, Arizona, Delaware, Kansas, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia and Wisconsin. Separately, many state pages note that child sexual exploitation or child sexual abuse material statutes can apply when a minor is coerced to produce images, often with far higher penalties. At the federal level, the Justice Department's 2016 bulletin named 18 U.S.C. 2251(a), which carries 15 to 30 years for a first offense, and 18 U.S.C. 2422(b), which carries 10 years to life, as statutes commonly charged when minors are targeted.

If you or someone you know is being threatened with the release of images, our sextortion scams guide covers reporting and image-removal steps. The federal TAKE IT DOWN Act page covers the platform removal process, and revenge porn laws by state covers the crimes for posting intimate images.

Is it extortion to threaten a lawsuit or to report a crime?

There is no single national answer, because each statute handles it differently. What the statutes themselves say falls into a few patterns. None of them decides whether a particular demand is lawful; that depends on the facts and is a question for a lawyer licensed in the state.

Restitution or claim-of-right defenses tied to certain threats. A number of states write a defense into the statute, usually limited to threats to accuse, expose, sue or invoke official action, where the property was honestly claimed as restitution or indemnification for harm done, or as compensation for property or lawful services. Pennsylvania's 18 Pa.C.S. 3923(b) is typical:

"It is a defense to prosecution based on paragraphs (a)(2), (a)(3) or (a)(4) of this section that the property obtained by threat of accusation, exposure, lawsuit or other invocation of official action was honestly claimed as restitution or indemnification for harm done in the circumstances to which such accusation, exposure, lawsuit or other official action relates, or as compensation for property or lawful services."

Similar provisions appear in Alaska (AS 11.41.520(c)), Georgia (16-8-16(c)), Hawaii (707-769), Kentucky (514.080(2)), Missouri (RSMo 570.010(5), written as a justification), Nebraska (28-513(2)), New Jersey (2C:20-5) and Tennessee (39-14-112(b)). Alabama's 13A-8-15(b) applies only to threats to accuse someone of a crime. Arkansas writes the exclusion into its definition of threat (5-36-101(16)(B)). Arizona's 13-1804(B) asks whether a reasonable person would believe the property was sought by "the threat of a reasonable accusation, exposure, lawsuit or other invocation of official action." Iowa's 711.4(3) covers a person who reasonably believed they had a right to make the threat to recover property, to receive compensation, or to recover a debt to which they have a good faith claim, but not a threat to commit a public offense. Delaware's 847 sets out claim-of-right defenses for theft and extortion.

Belief-that-the-charge-is-true defenses. New York (Penal Law 155.15(2)), Oregon (ORS 164.035(2)) and Washington (RCW 9A.56.130(2)) write a narrower defense for threats to have someone charged with a crime: the person must have reasonably believed the charge true, and the sole purpose must have been to induce the other person to make good the wrong.

General theft defenses. Maine (17-A M.R.S. 361), North Dakota (12.1-23-09), South Dakota (22-30A-16) and Utah (76-6-402(3)) apply a claim-of-right defense to every theft offense, including theft by extortion or by threat.

No written exception. The statutes in California, Colorado, DC, Florida, Kansas, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Vermont and Wyoming contain no claim-of-right or lawful-demand exception in their text; their limits are the elements themselves, such as malice or an intent to extort. Courts have addressed the question in two of them:

• California. In Flatley v. Mauro (2006) 39 Cal.4th 299, the California Supreme Court held that the communications before it "constituted criminal extortion as a matter of law," and stated that threats to do the acts listed in Penal Code 519 "are extortionate whether or not the victim committed the crime or indiscretion upon which the threat is based and whether or not the person making the threat could have reported the victim to the authorities or arrested the victim."
• Florida. In Carricarte v. State (1980), the Florida Supreme Court upheld section 836.05 and wrote that "we cannot sanction the use of threats to take legal action where those threats are made maliciously and with the intent to acquire pecuniary gain." In Tomlinson v. State (2023), it held that "maliciously" in 836.05 means "intentionally and without any lawful justification."

Many threat lists do not mention lawsuits at all; other items on those lists, such as threats to expose a fact or harm a reputation, may still describe a given threat. Several coercion statutes carry their own, differently worded defenses (for example Connecticut 53a-192(b), Ohio 2905.12(C) and Pennsylvania 2906(b)).

Federal extortion and threat laws

This section describes federal law. Federal statutes apply alongside state law when the conduct falls within them, for example a threat sent across state lines or through the mail, or extortion that affects interstate commerce.

Fines come from 18 U.S.C. 3571: up to $250,000 for an individual convicted of a felony, up to $100,000 for a Class A misdemeanor not resulting in death, or up to twice the gross gain or loss under 3571(d). Under the classification rule in 18 U.S.C. 3559(a), the 20-year offenses are Class C felonies, the 2-year offenses Class E felonies and the 1-year blackmail offense a Class A misdemeanor.

The Hobbs Act. Section 1951(a) punishes anyone who "in any way or degree obstructs, delays, or affects commerce or the movement of any article or commodity in commerce, by robbery or extortion or attempts or conspires so to do." The Supreme Court has held that the extortion must actually obtain property. In Scheidler v. National Organization for Women (2003), the Court held "that petitioners did not commit extortion because they did not "obtain" property from respondents as required by the Hobbs Act." In Sekhar v. United States (2013), it held that attempting to compel a person to recommend that his employer approve an investment is not "the obtaining of property from another," because the property extorted "must therefore be transferable."

Interstate and mailed threats. The 20-year tiers in 18 U.S.C. 875(b) and 876(b) require a threat to kidnap or injure a person. Threats to injure property or reputation, or to accuse someone of a crime, made with intent to extort, fall under 875(d) and 876(d), with a 2-year maximum. Section 877 covers the same threats mailed from a foreign country into the United States.

Federal blackmail. The federal offense titled blackmail, 18 U.S.C. 873, is narrow. It reaches whoever, "under a threat of informing, or as a consideration for not informing, against any violation of any law of the United States, demands or receives any money or other valuable thing." It concerns threats to report a federal violation only.

Threats and the First Amendment. In Counterman v. Colorado (2023), a case about threats of violence, the Supreme Court held that a State must show the defendant "consciously disregarded a substantial risk that his communications would be viewed as threatening violence," and that recklessness is sufficient. The case concerned true threats of violence, not reputation-based extortion.

The TAKE IT DOWN Act. Public Law 119-12, enacted May 19, 2025, added 47 U.S.C. 223(h). Its paragraph (6) makes it a crime for any person to intentionally threaten to publish an authentic intimate image, or a digital forgery, of an identifiable person "for the purpose of intimidation, coercion, extortion, or to create mental distress." A "minor" is anyone under 18, and the Act states that it does not limit the application of any other relevant law. It does not create an offense named sextortion. Our TAKE IT DOWN Act page covers the rest of the law.

Extortion and blackmail laws: 50-state and DC comparison

Each row summarizes the linked state page. "Base grade" is the grade of the main offense; many states have higher tiers or aggravated forms covered on the state page. Statutory maximums are maximums, not predicted sentences.

Recent changes in state extortion laws

Legislatures have been active, mostly on image-based threats. Among the changes the state pages describe:

• Kansas rewrote its blackmail statute, K.S.A. 21-5428, effective July 1, 2026 (2026 Session Laws ch. 114); its image clause now reaches nude or sexual images of an identifiable person, including AI-altered ones. Caleb's Law (ch. 45) amended sexual extortion the same day.
• Arizona added a class 2 felony tier for sexual extortion of 15-, 16- and 17-year-olds (Laws 2026, ch. 61, in effect since September 12, 2026).
• Minnesota added enhanced penalties for coercion by image threats that contribute to great bodily harm or death, for crimes on or after August 1, 2026 (2026 Minn. Laws ch. 76).
• Vermont created sexual extortion, 13 V.S.A. 2607, effective July 1, 2026, and Wyoming added a threat prong for synthetic sexual material to W.S. 6-4-307 the same day.
• Missouri created sadistic online exploitation (RSMo 573.575), effective August 28, 2026.
• Oklahoma moved extortion and blackmail into its class-based sentencing system as Class D1 felonies effective January 1, 2026 (Laws 2025, c. 486).
• In 2025, new sexual extortion offenses took effect in Ohio (Braden's Law, April 9), Michigan (April 2), West Virginia (June 12) and Kentucky (June 27); Alabama expanded its sexual extortion statute effective October 1, 2025; Delaware added a class B tier for sexual extortion of minors and vulnerable adults (85 Del. Laws c. 223); Louisiana added a threat to do any other harm to its extortion statute (Act 275, effective August 1, 2025); and Texas made threats to produce or distribute deep fake media an offense (S.B. 441, effective September 1, 2025).
• Wisconsin created sexual extortion in 2025 Wisconsin Act 48, published December 9, 2025.

Related offenses people confuse with extortion

Robbery. Robbery takes property by force or a threat of immediate force, against the person's will. Extortion obtains it with the person's consent, induced by a threat that is usually of future harm. California's Penal Code 520 applies to extortion "under circumstances not amounting to robbery or carjacking," and Alaska's extortion statute excludes threats made "under circumstances constituting robbery in any degree" (AS 11.41.520(a)(1)). The federal Hobbs Act covers both robbery and extortion that affect commerce (18 U.S.C. 1951).

Threats with no demand. Criminal threatening, terroristic threats and similar offenses punish the threat itself without any demand for property. Federal law, for example, punishes an interstate threat to kidnap or injure, with no intent to extort, by up to 5 years under 18 U.S.C. 875(c). State versions are named on each state page.

Coercion. As described above, coercion or intimidation offenses reach threats used to force someone to act or refrain from acting, with no property demand. They are often graded below extortion: Connecticut's coercion is a class A misdemeanor unless the threat is to commit a felony, and Pennsylvania's criminal coercion is a second-degree misdemeanor in the base case.

Theft and fraud. Obtaining money by deception rather than by threat is fraud or theft by deception, not extortion. See our scam and fraud laws and theft laws by state hubs.

Related pages

• Theft laws by state
• Assault and battery laws by state
• Deepfake laws by state
• Scam and fraud laws
• Sextortion scams: what to do and how to report
• TAKE IT DOWN Act
• Revenge porn laws by state
• Expungement laws by state

Disclaimer: This page provides general legal information about state and federal extortion, blackmail and sexual extortion laws in the United States, current as of October 17, 2026. It is not legal advice. Statutes change, and how a law applies depends on the facts. For advice about a specific situation, contact a lawyer licensed in your state.

Last updated: October 17, 2026.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is blackmail illegal in every state?

Blackmail-type threats are crimes under state law across the country, though most states do not use the word blackmail as an offense name. They charge the conduct as extortion, as theft by threat or extortion, or as coercion; see the comparison table for each state's statute.

What is the difference between extortion and blackmail?

Extortion is the broader term: obtaining property or an act through a threat, including threats of violence. Blackmail usually means a threat to reveal damaging information unless the person pays. Seven jurisdictions, including DC, Kansas, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Wyoming, use blackmail as an offense name.

Is extortion a felony?

In most stand-alone extortion statutes, yes, at any amount; for example Florida (second-degree felony, up to 15 years) and Virginia (Class 5 felony). In states that treat extortion as theft and grade it by value, such as Texas, Kentucky and Utah, a small demand can be a misdemeanor.

Is it a crime if no money was actually paid?

Often, yes. Some statutes punish the threat itself, such as Nevada's NRS 205.320, which applies whether or not the purpose is accomplished; others cover seeking to obtain property, as Arizona's 13-1804 does, or treat a failed demand as attempt, as West Virginia's 61-2-13 does with a 1-to-3-year range.

Is sextortion a federal crime?

No federal offense is named sextortion, but since May 19, 2025, 47 U.S.C. 223(h)(6) makes it a federal crime to threaten to publish an intimate image or digital forgery for the purpose of extortion or coercion, with up to 2 or 3 years for authentic images. Federal child exploitation statutes, such as 18 U.S.C. 2251(a), can apply when minors are targeted.

Which states have a sexual extortion law?

Twenty-two states have a statute titled sexual extortion, including Alabama, Kentucky, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Utah, Virginia and Wisconsin. Others reach image threats through intimate-image, deepfake or general extortion statutes.

Is threatening to report someone to the police extortion?

Many statutes list a threat to accuse someone of a crime, made to obtain property, as extortion. Some states write a defense for property honestly claimed as restitution, or for a reasonable belief that the charge is true, while others, such as California and Massachusetts, have no such exception in the statute; a lawyer licensed in the state can assess a specific situation.

Is threatening immigration status extortion?

Several states list it expressly, including California (Penal Code 519), Colorado (C.R.S. 18-3-207(1.5)), DC (§ 22-3252(a)(5)), Maryland (Crim. Law § 3-701), Oklahoma (21 O.S. 1488), Oregon (ORS 164.075) and Virginia (§ 18.2-59).

What is the Hobbs Act?

The Hobbs Act, 18 U.S.C. 1951, is the main federal extortion statute. It punishes robbery or extortion that obstructs, delays or affects commerce, including attempts and conspiracies, by up to 20 years in prison.