Please help - someone is threatening to share a video of me (in the buff) on Facebook!
A few days ago, I meet a girl on Omegle (a chat website). We hit it off pretty good. After some back and forth, things escalated to the point where she starting sharing pictures of her self scantily dressed.
She asked for my phone number, then said she wanted to do a video call using Google Chat. As soon as I answered, she was already unclothed with toys in hand. She claimed her microphone was broken and so she typed to me instead. She asked to see what I looked like and repeatedly asked to see my face and below the waist.
Eventually I gave in. As soon as I did, the video call ended abruptly and she's made threats to ruin my life, career, and reputation if I don't agree to pay thousands of dollars using CashApp. She's already sent me a list of names of people I know through Facebook as proof. I've already gave her $500 but as soon as I did, she asked for more. I shut down my social media (Facebook, Instagram) but I'm not sure if that will help. Should I block the blackmailer? Do blackmailers follow through? What is the worst that can happen? Can you help? "
In short: the person you've been speaking to most likely isn't in your city, nor is she the beautiful woman you think she is. She is in fact most likely a recording of a previous victim of sextortion (hence her "microphone is broken"), and the people you've been speaking with are most likely part of an overseas group of cyber criminals located in Ivory Coast, Africa, or the Philippines (among other countries) that specialize in sextortion scams (i.e., sex extortion). I know this because I've worked on over 1,000+ sextortion cases and I know what these people are capable of, including what they are not capable of.
I'll answer more of your questions below in order. Either click a link below or just keep on reading.
As I've said many times in the past, you can shut down your social media but it won't help the situation - in fact, it will likely make things worse.
Here's why -
If you shut down your social media, it won't stop the blackmailers from contacting your friends and family on Facebook or Instagram.
The reason for this is two-fold. First and foremost, the scammers have already looked you up on social media and made a copy of all of your contacts before they decided to threaten you. They do this because most people react by shutting down their accounts when put in the same situation, hoping that the problem will sort itself out - but quite often it does not.
Secondly, both Facebook and Instagram are open platforms, meaning that anyone with an account can reach out to other users on the same platform. In other words, the blackmail scammers own multiple fake accounts on these platforms and can contact your friends and family without any issues.
Will Shutting Down My Social Media Make Things Worse?
Based on my experience, scammers often check to see if shut down your accounts because they want to monitor what you're up to after they have made their threats.
Shutting down your social media accounts basically signals to the scammers that you're about to run away. If you run away, then the blackmailers can't keep on extorting you for money. This usually (but not always) results in the scammers escalating their threats and/or reaching out to friends and family as a way to prove their point that they have the reach, and to say that they aren't going anywhere any time soon.
I get asked this question quite often. The best answer I can give you is that you should block the blackmailer if you:
a) have little to lose and don't care if you get exposed - you have a 50% chance of exposure, after all, and
b) you cannot afford other methods of mitigation.
If you choose to hire a company to assist, please make sure you do your research. I say this because one of our competitors that claims to help with sextortion cases currently has an F rating on the Better Business Bureau website (bbb.org) and has over 84 complaints lodged against them for misleading their clients. On the other hand, our company and website has an A+ rating on the BBB, has been online for 23 years, and has zero complaints.
If you would like to speak to me by phone to discuss your case, I'm happy to answer some of your questions. Use our contact page to get in touch.
Do Facebook Blackmailers Follow Through?
As I mentioned, you have a 50% chance of being exposed and it largely depends on what information the scammers have on you, and what you have to lose. That said, some scammers make threats and don't follow through, some do follow through, and some scammers go the extra mile when it comes to exposing their victims.
I can also tell you that the majority of scammers tend to stick to either Facebook or Instagram, with Facebook being the gold standard because it has your first and last name (and usually family members associated with your list of friends). If the scammers know who your wife or girlfriend is, I guarantee you she will be the first target.
If you don't have a Facebook account, then the scammers will target Instagram or LinkedIn. Some clients I speak to don't have any social media, but scammers have still managed to look up their significant other using tools like beenverified.com and similar, or just by searching the web.
Sextortion: What is the Worst that Can Happen?
First and foremost, if you pay the scammers anything at all, they will never, ever stop asking for more. So don't do that because you will definitely make it worse. On the other hand: if you don't pay them anything, they will get extremely agitated and may start reaching out to family and friends through Facebook or Instagram (usually) to prove a point.
When they do reach out to people, quite often the blackmailers will share a video of you in the buff (or a link to the video that's been uploaded elsewhere), or they will share collage of images of you in the buff which can either be derived from the video, or from multiple pictures that you sent.
It's important to note that even if the scammers don't have a picture of video of you - or if the video or picture of you is dark and grainy (as many have claimed) - the scammers will often substitute it with another video or photo from another victim and say it's you.
When the upload the video outside of social media, quite they send it to raunchy websites and then leave your full name and phone number in the description. Some choose to upload your video YouTube, or some use other, random websites. I also worked on case where the scammers sent a link to the victim's video on his workplace's Facebook page. Unfortunately the victim contacted me after this happened and I wasn't able to prevent it, and he ended up getting fired from his job.
I've also spoken to victims who told me the scammers already contacted their wife or girlfriend and were still tormenting them with threats to reach out to others. Again, this happened before I able to assist in the matter so wasn't able to prevent it.
Most of the time the scammers will make threats to reach out of the victim's significant other (i.e., wife, partner). If there is no significant other, then they will target family members. Following that, they usually go after your contacts on social media. All of this can be avoided using the appropriate mitigation strategies, because quite often, the scammers do things in a way that you would least expect, even after I've told you what the usually do. This comes as a great surprise, to say the least.
Is someone threatening to share intimate photos or videos on Facebook or Instagram? If so, I can help.
Since 2019, I've worked on over 1,000+ sextortion cases. I have plenty of experience and know first-hand what the scammers can and can't do. I also know how to prevent your exposure and make them go away.
I offer multiple contingency plans using several worst case scenarios - including: what to do about your social media (and how to prevent the scammers from contacting friends and family), what to do about your wife or girlfriend in case the scammers reach out to them, and what to do about your job. These are the top 3 questions I get asked the most because these are what the scammers target.
The fact is, the blackmailers are very aggressive and use lots of dirty tricks to force you to pay. They are especially crafty when it comes to exposing you because they do things you won't ever think of (unless you've gone through it before - which is why I can help). A good portion of my plan is to explain what these worst case scenarios look like and solutions to those problems - so that you can avoid it from happening to you.
If you're interested in speaking with me, I'm happy to give a call to answer your questions - just drop me an email. Our company and website is BBB A+ accredited, and has been online for 23 years. Rest assured you will receive top notch service because I treat all my clients with dignity and respect.
I look forward to serving you!
About the author: Dennis Faas is the CEO and owner of Infopackets.com. Since 2001, Dennis has dedicated his entire professional career helping others with technology-related issues with his unique style of writing in the form of questions-and-answers; click here to read all 2,000+ of Dennis' articles online this site. In 2014, Dennis shifted his focus to cyber crime mitigation, including technical support fraud and in 2019, sextortion. Dennis has received many accolades during his tenure: click here to view Dennis' credentials online DennisFaas.com; click here to see Dennis' Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science (1999); click here to read an article written about Dennis by Alan Gardyne of Associate Programs (2003). And finally, click here to view a recommendation for Dennis' services from the University of Florida (dated 2006).