by FoolMeOnce68 » Sat Jul 13, 2019 6:11 pm
July 7, 2019 marked one year since my attempted Sextortion Scam and I firmly believe it's finally over and feel freedom from that event. I will apologize ahead of time for the length of this post. I wanted to be sure I got it all out. Be well and follow the guidance of these fine folks.
My story is no different, really, than anyone elses on here. I "met" someone online (Facebook), we had several mutual friends, the profile covered all of the details of a local person so I accepted the friend request. Over the next day or so, we had some good conversation, s(he) sent me some pics and asked me for some in return. I did not return any pics to the requester, but the next day, I did accept an invitation to video chat; not really sure why I did, but I did. Within about 3 min, the person on the video had removed their clothes and was enticing me to do the same. Honestly, a few days after the scam, I started really thinking about it and there were some immediate red flags - other than the obvious hints that someone was sending me nudes within hours of online meeting - one big flag was that "she lost her audio". But I went through with it anyway. I pleasured myself to "her" video and yes, I shared my video with "her". That was it, the few minutes of video we shared, was all it took, the scammer had me, and they knew it!
A couple of hours went by, I guess that's how long it took them to put everything together, and then the messages started rolling in. The threats of reporting me to the authorities, the reports that "she" worked for a company that puts people like me away and goes after pedefiles and womaizers. Men who take advantage of innocent women online and prey on their victims. Now, initially I wasn't too worried, I mean hell, so what, I m***urbate to video of women, big deal right? Well, they sent me a link to a video they assembled of me, which about destroyed me inside. They titled it something like "(First and Last Name, masturbates in front of 8 year old girl"! I turned white as a ghost, I immediately got nauseous and teared up. Again, I could care less if someone had a video of me jerking it, but to infer that I did it in front of a child was just sickening.
After about an hour, maybe two, time stops when you are in this situation, I confronted my wife. I told her everything I had done - including the video. I held nothing back, I covered every transaction, every video call, every pic exchanged. We argued - for good reason - she screamed at me, she told me what an "ASS" I was and begged me to help her understand why I did what I did. Another hour or so went by and we pulled ourselves together - for now - and started looking at how we could get out from this. We called the police and filed a report - yes, I shared all the details with them too. The police informed me that legally, I did nothing wrong and really, the scammers and their blackmail was the illegal act. I contacted the FBI and some other US government agencies. I provided them everything too. Then, I found ScamSurvivors, I found their site to report the blackmail attempt and by now, as I'm sure some of you can imagine, I was skeptical of everything. So I did hours of research, let's face it, I couldn't sleep. I finally decided to register my story, seek help from the folks on this site.
ScamSurvivors and their members didn't let me down. They gave me tons of information and guidance - FOLLOW THEIR SUGGESTIONS - they provide me a non judgemental avenue to vent my concerns, talk about my situation, help. The moderators of this site have experience, they have knowledge and more over, they have a clear path to freeing you from these sammers. To everyone on here, moderator or other, who have helped me over the year since my event, THANK YOU! You have all be a bright spot in all of this. I am far more skeptical now than ever before. I scrutinize more now than I ever have, about my online activities and friendships. I watch more closely, the things I do in a public setting. Basically, I'm a better human - I think - for the events that occured. By the way, my wife and I are still together (she's a great woman) and our marriage is probably even better and stronger now (more than 30 years together). Truth is, these things happen. People get scammed for various reasons, maybe they want the attention, maybe they are just gullible, maybe they have an overactive sexual appetite? Regardless, it happens. If you follow the guidance of the people on here, people like me who have been through it, you will come out on the other side and feel better for it.
Thank you ScamSurviors, thank you for helping me and countless other.