I've just received a sextortion form, and the name looked familiar. A little digging confirmed my suspicions. He'd filled in several forms over the past few months. A quick search of his name showed me not only his address, but all the family members living there too. I know what he looks like, where he works, where he studied and what his job titles are. Google maps even showed me what his house looked like, how many cars were parked there and what colour his mailbox is. If I can find all that in less than 5 minutes, imagine what the scammer can find after all this time if he's determined enough. When someone fills in a form, they're sent to a link that talks them through exactly what they need to do in order to deal with the scammer. The very first sentence on the very first page says:
It's essential you follow EVERY SINGLE STEP TO THE LETTER.
The last sentence on that same page says this:
You ignore the steps we lay out, on your own head be it. We won't help you from that point on.
This is a perfect example of why.
Remember, we tell you to do these things for a reason. If you ignore the steps we give you, we can't help you any more. We have literally already given you everything you need to be safe after the scam. There's a saying, "you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink". We can't force you to do them, but we can show you examples of why you need to do them. This is one of those examples. Let me quote that very first line again:
It's essential you follow EVERY SINGLE STEP TO THE LETTER.
