Wyoming Blackmail and Extortion Laws: Penalties (2026)

Yes. Blackmail is a crime in Wyoming, and it is the name Wyoming uses for extortion. Under W.S. 6-2-402, a person commits blackmail by threatening bodily injury or property damage, or by accusing or threatening to accuse someone of a crime or of degrading "immoral conduct," with the intent to obtain property or to compel someone to act or not act against their will; it is a felony of up to 10 years in prison, or 5 to 25 years if bodily injury is caused.

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

Jurisdiction scope: This article covers Wyoming's blackmail statute (W.S. 6-2-402), the felony definition and default fine in W.S. 6-10-101 and 6-10-102, sexual exploitation of a child (W.S. 6-4-303), and related offenses in Title 6 of the Wyoming Statutes. It does not cover what to do if you are being threatened or how to get images removed (see our sextortion scams guide), the crime of sharing intimate images itself (see revenge porn laws by state), federal offenses (covered on our extortion and blackmail laws by state hub), or local ordinances.

What is blackmail in Wyoming?

Wyoming folds blackmail and extortion into one crime. Section 6-2-402(e) states that "Conduct denoted blackmail in this section constitutes a single offense embracing the separate crimes formerly known as blackmail and extortion." So in Wyoming, blackmail is both the everyday word and the statutory name.

The offense is defined in 6-2-402(a):

"A person commits blackmail if, with the intent to obtain property of another or to compel action or inaction by any person against his will, the person: (i) Threatens bodily injury or injury to the property of another person; or (ii) Accuses or threatens to accuse a person of a crime or immoral conduct which would tend to degrade or disgrace the person or subject him to the ridicule or contempt of society."

Two points come straight from that text. First, the goal does not have to be money: an intent "to compel action or inaction by any person against his will" is enough. Second, the threat list is short. It names bodily injury, injury to property, and accusations of a crime or of immoral conduct that would tend to degrade or disgrace the person or expose them to ridicule or contempt. It does not separately list threats to reveal a secret, harm credit, or report immigration status.

Wyoming blackmail and extortion penalties

Section 6-2-402(b) states that "blackmail is a felony punishable by imprisonment for not more than ten (10) years," and 6-2-402(c) that aggravated blackmail is "a felony punishable by imprisonment for not less than five (5) years nor more than twenty-five (25) years if in the course of committing the crime of blackmail the person causes bodily injury to another person." Under 6-2-402(d), "in the course of committing the crime" includes the time of an attempt to commit the crime and flight after the attempt or commission.

Section 6-2-402 sets no fine. W.S. 6-10-102 fills that gap: "The court may impose a fine as part of the punishment for any felony. If the statute does not establish a maximum fine, the fine shall be not more than ten thousand dollars ($10,000.00)." All prison terms above are statutory maximums or ranges, not predictions of a sentence.

Is blackmail a felony in Wyoming?

Yes. W.S. 6-10-101 provides that "Crimes which may be punished by death or by imprisonment for more than one (1) year are felonies." Blackmail carries up to 10 years and the statute itself calls it a felony. There are no value tiers: the grade is the same whether the demand is for a small sum or a large one.

Threats to sue, report, or post a bad review

Section 6-2-402 answers these questions only through its own words:

• Reporting someone to the police. Paragraph (a)(ii) covers a person who "Accuses or threatens to accuse a person of a crime," when done with the required intent.
• Public embarrassment or a bad review. The list reaches an accusation of "immoral conduct which would tend to degrade or disgrace the person or subject him to the ridicule or contempt of society." It does not name harm to business reputation or credit as a separate threat.
• A lawsuit. A threat to file a civil lawsuit is not named in the list.

Subsections (a) through (e) of 6-2-402 contain no written exception for a claim of right, a debt, or a lawful demand.

Theft by threat and computer extortion

Wyoming's theft statute also mentions threats. W.S. 6-3-402(a) makes it theft when a person "knowingly takes, obtains, procures, retains or exercises control over or makes an unauthorized transfer of an interest in the property of another person without authorization or by threat or by deception" with one of the listed intents, one of which is that the person "Demands anything of value to which he has no legal claim as a condition for returning or otherwise restoring the property to the other person."

Theft is graded by value under 6-3-402(c). Among its grades, theft is a felony of up to 10 years, a fine of up to $10,000, or both if the property is worth $1,000 or more, and a misdemeanor of up to 1 year, a fine of up to $1,500, or both if it is worth less than $1,000. Our Wyoming theft laws page covers the full theft grading.

Ransomware has its own offense. Under W.S. 6-3-507(a), a person is guilty of computer extortion if he "knowingly and without authorization introduces, attempts to introduce or directs or induces another to introduce, any ransomware into a computer, computer system or computer network which requires the payment of money or other consideration to remove the ransomware or repair the damage." It is a felony of up to 10 years, a fine of up to $10,000, or both (6-3-507(b)).

Is sextortion a crime in Wyoming?

Wyoming has no offense named sextortion. Four statutes bear on threats involving sexual images.

Synthetic sexual material. Enrolled Act No. 32 of the 2026 Budget Session (House Bill 102), effective July 1, 2026, added a threat prong to W.S. 6-4-307. It applies when a person "intentionally threatens to distribute synthetic sexual material that depicts a person's intimate parts exposed or engaged in sexual conduct without that person's consent and makes the threat to obtain a benefit in: (A) Return for not making the disclosure; or (B) Connection with the threatened disclosure." It is a felony of up to 10 years, a fine of up to $10,000, or both, and up to 12 years for a second or subsequent conviction (6-4-307(c)). This prong is limited to synthetic material.

Blackmail. A demand backed by a threat on the 6-2-402 list, such as accusing someone of immoral conduct that would tend to degrade or disgrace them, falls under the blackmail statute. A September 2023 memo from Wyoming's Legislative Service Office to the Joint Judiciary Committee noted that, "Although not directly addressing or specifically limited to sextortion," the blackmail statute prohibits accusing or threatening to accuse a person of a crime or immoral conduct, with the intent to compel action or inaction against his will.

Disseminating an intimate image. W.S. 6-4-306 applies to a person 18 or older who disseminates an intimate image under the conditions it lists and who intended, among other things, "To humiliate, harm, harass, threaten or coerce another." It is a misdemeanor of up to 1 year, a fine of up to $5,000, or both (6-4-306(c)). This offense requires that the image be disseminated.

Minors. Under W.S. 6-4-303(b)(i), a person who knowingly "Causes, induces, entices, coerces or permits a child to engage in, or be used for, the making of child pornography" commits sexual exploitation of a child; a child is a person under 18. It is a felony of 5 to 12 years, a fine of up to $10,000, or both (6-4-303(c)), and 7 to 12 years for a second or subsequent conviction (6-4-303(e)).

For someone being threatened right now, our sextortion scams guide explains reporting and image-removal options. Wyoming's rules on AI-generated images are covered on Wyoming deepfake laws, and intimate-image crimes in every state on revenge porn laws by state.

Related offenses people confuse with blackmail

Robbery (6-2-401). Robbery happens in the course of a theft, when the person "Inflicts bodily injury upon another" or "Threatens another with or intentionally puts him in fear of immediate bodily injury." The threat in robbery is of immediate injury. Robbery is a felony of up to 10 years, except as provided in 6-2-401(c).

Terroristic threats (6-2-505). This offense needs no demand. A person is guilty if he "threatens to commit any violent felony with the intent to cause evacuation of a building, place of assembly or facility of public transportation, or otherwise to cause serious public inconvenience, or in reckless disregard of the risk of causing such inconvenience." It is a felony of up to 3 years.

Gang intimidation (6-2-403). Threatening or intimidating by word or conduct to cause physical injury or property damage in order to further a criminal street gang, or to cause, induce or solicit another person to participate in one, is a high misdemeanor of up to 1 year, a fine of up to $1,000, or both.

Fraud and scams. Schemes that obtain money by deception rather than threats are covered on Wyoming scam and fraud laws.

Federal law also reaches threats and extortion that cross state lines; see the extortion and blackmail laws by state hub.

Recent changes

The 2026 Wyoming Statutes text of 6-2-402 reads as quoted above. The main recent change in this area is Enrolled Act No. 32 (2026 House Bill 102), which took effect July 1, 2026 and created the felony for threatening to distribute nonconsensual synthetic sexual material to obtain a benefit (W.S. 6-4-307(a)(iii)).

Related Wyoming pages

• Extortion and blackmail laws by state
• Wyoming theft laws
• Wyoming deepfake laws
• Wyoming scam and fraud laws
• Sextortion scams: what to do if you are targeted

This article provides general legal information about Wyoming criminal statutes as of October 17, 2026. It is not legal advice. For advice about a specific situation, contact a lawyer licensed in Wyoming.

Last updated: October 17, 2026.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is blackmail illegal in Wyoming?

Yes. W.S. 6-2-402 makes blackmail a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison. It covers threatening bodily injury or property damage, or accusing or threatening to accuse someone of a crime or of degrading immoral conduct, with the intent to obtain property or to compel action or inaction against a person's will.

Is extortion a crime in Wyoming?

Yes, under the name blackmail. W.S. 6-2-402(e) states that conduct denoted blackmail is a single offense embracing the separate crimes formerly known as blackmail and extortion. Wyoming also has a separate computer extortion offense for ransomware (W.S. 6-3-507).

Is blackmail a felony in Wyoming?

Yes. Blackmail is a felony of up to 10 years with no value threshold (6-2-402(b)). Aggravated blackmail, where bodily injury is caused in the course of the crime, is a felony of 5 to 25 years (6-2-402(c)).

Is it blackmail in Wyoming to threaten to report someone to the police unless they pay?

W.S. 6-2-402(a)(ii) lists accusing or threatening to accuse a person of a crime, when done with the intent to obtain property of another or to compel action or inaction by any person against his will. The section contains no written exception for a claim of right.

Is sextortion a crime in Wyoming?

Wyoming has no offense named sextortion. Intentionally threatening to distribute synthetic sexual material depicting a person without consent, to obtain a benefit, is a felony of up to 10 years under W.S. 6-4-307(a)(iii), effective July 1, 2026, and the blackmail statute reaches demands backed by a threat on its list, such as accusing someone of immoral conduct. Coercing or inducing a child under 18 to be used for making child pornography is sexual exploitation of a child under W.S. 6-4-303, a felony of 5 to 12 years.