The “YouTube police”.

One trick used by blackmail scammers is to write to their victims claiming to be from YouTube and telling them they need to pay a fine for their video appearing on the site.  Now obviously, reading that statement from an objective point of view it’s obviously a lie.  However, put yourself in the other person’s shoes.  Their lives have just crumbled around them.  The unthinkable has happened.  They’re not thinking straight, scared,  haven’t eaten or slept in days.  You could probably tell them that the MiB have written to them and they’ll believe it.  The one thing we always try to do is get people to take a breath, clear their head and look at the situation objectively.  When they can do that, they can see through the lies and do what needs to be done in order to deal with this scam properly.  It’s not always easy, but it is essential.