recovery and reassurance

[afazeres31]

The same happend to me yesterday. I started being in panic and I could not believe what I had done. The fear still with me but the guys in this site and all of your story made me believe that I will be safe and run clean from this story. It was the biggest fear that I ever felt... I know that I'm not safe yet but I'm praying to this story to end well. Thank to all, I'll keep updating.

(I'm sorry for my english if it's not correct but this is not my language xD)

[Removed possible identifying information from post.]

[Clio]

Excuse me but all day I think about it.
Now I feel a bit 'better, even if the guilt is killing me. I am hours that I'm on this site, as if reading the stories of others, or simply be connected feel me safe.
But now I have a doubt, at the height of my stupidity I sent to that son of a b1tch (I hope you can say) all of my real informations, including home address and that of work.
Right now I'm really scared, if these people would find the way to hurt my children?

[SlapHappy]

Clio,

The scammer cannot hurt you and will do nothing to your children, so do not worry about that.
All his threats in that regard were just hot air, saying it to scare you into continuing to talk and to pay him.
He will do nothing with your address at home or work.
Just make sure to change all your contact information, email addresses, phone numbers, online profiles so he cannot recontact you.

Download and read this e-book. This might help you deal with the emotions after your scam, and feel less alone.
"The Scam Survivors' Handbook"
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=31
http://www.romancescambaiter.com/ssh.pdf

[AnonymousRecovering]

Yesterday, I fell victim to a Skype sextortion scam. Thankfully, someone had posted a link to this site on Skype's community forums. I didn't pay them, and I took this site's advice.

I am still shaken up. There is guilt and shame and the lingering fear of what might happen if the video got out. So far, nothing has been posted. I have spoken with friends and family, but I am reaching out here to others who have gone through the same thing.

I want to say thank you to the owners of the site. You are doing a great service here.

[pabor27]

I also fell victim on Thursday night. Sounds like there is a well oiled machine out there where they are running this scam. Got texting/chatting to what appeared to be a cute 26 year old girl, then she invites to Skype..then it gets naughty. My usual "this is b*llcrap" radar wasn't functioning and I thought Oh what the hell, why not (never did anything like that before, and rarely Skype at all). Anyway, I get the video replay of me and Facebook friends list. Then a weird philipino male voice comes and threatens me if I don't pay USD 1000. I was never going to pay money, but in a panic googled "Skype blackmail", found this site and followed instructions very quickly...whilst at the same time had this scamming piece of sh*t hanging on the line...then I hung up and am in the praying nothing happens process now.
I let close family and friends know. They are being supportive and will let me know if anything dodgy appears. This is definitely the worst feeling I've felt for a long time and I think it will be a month or so before I feel back to normal. So far there hasn't been anything bad. Logically I know that it these scammers will just move on. They cannot contact me and have nothing to gain by posting anything. Even so, it's natural to still be feeling anxious, embarrassed.
I'll post back in a week or so to update. I've decided to ditch Facebook. I did without it for two years, and instead I'll actually use that time to speak in person. Fingers crossed all will be ok, and best of luck to the others on this site. Thanks admins for this site, it really has helped me.

[AnonymousRecovering]

It has been almost four days. So far, nothing has happened.

[Big Al]

I'm glad to read that. Keep working the plan and you should be ok.

[SlapHappy]

Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future. - Paul Boese

[AnonymousRecovering]

It has been almost two weeks. All is well.

[pabor27]

Same for me...but I'll be leaving it a long while before using Skype or Facebook...besides I don't miss either of them!

Hopefully this adds to the statistics that shows if you cut off all contact, deactivate/block etc (follow guide on this site) then these %#*^ers will move on and leave us victims with nothing more than a nasty shock and a harsh lesson learned