Hi Guys thank you for this website it has helped me a lot. Here is me “giving back”. I was blackmailed yesterday, did not pay.
The best way for me to get over, and still getting over, this incident is:
1)
Understanding how these mf*ckers operate.2)
Adopting a reactionary stance, rather than an imaginary one. So instead of imagining the doom’s day scenario and living in fear, I tell myself what’s done is done. I have already followed all the steps on this site. Now IF they upload the video, I will request to take it down. IF they contact my friends, I trust my friends will tell me and I will explain to them. UNTIL these actually happen, there is no point in worry or fear. And even though I have never seen this on the forum, let’s say the video screws up your life, then what, are you going to stay at home and sulk for the rest of your life? You can react by finding other sources of income, way to live. React to what the scammer does, you are only reacting to 1 party. They are dealing with 40 victims PER DAY. In a you vs them scenario, you are likely to win.
What I read that gave me comfort:If the scammer publishes your video, they have no bargaining chip (money is all they want). Screwing up your life does not put food on their table.
If the scammer cannot contact you, the video is quite worthless to them
The “list of FB friends” they threatened me with was erroneous. It contained dead links and people who were not my friends. This tells me they did not dig deep into my FB profile but rather retrieved the links via some program or website. From this list of friends, I identified a couple and asked them if they received anything. So far nothing at all.
Is my Video still out there?In many of the scammer countries, homosexuality is a sin and they don’t want cops finding videos of solo naked men on their servers. Besides, who wants to watch a poorly made amateur guy self-jerking off?
If I were the sextortion syndicate, I would want to operate “light”. Keep as little evidence (videos) as possible, operate out of public wife cafes, and basically “hit and run”. If I delete videos on say a monthly basis, authorities cannot incriminate me. On the other hand if I keep 1,000 videos every month, 40 victims x 30 days, it’s a logistics nightmare filing them when I can focus on earning fresh money.
If I were a sextortion agent going for a buck, I want to earn as much money, for as long as possible, with as little risk as possible. Sending the video to friends of the victim increases my exposure exponentially because imagine the police reports that the action would invite. So I would strike hard and fast DIRECTLY at the victim, because the victim is unlikely to report to the cops due to embarrassment. I would not want to deal with all this mess when I can move on to scam the next victim, who might be more of a chicken a send me some cash.
It also helps that most websites do not entertain uploading of nudity, even porn sites expect some quality these days.
So How do they operate?I quote from this article from Interpol:
http://www.interpol.int/Media/Files/New ... nd-Answers“Resourceful and practiced criminals target hundreds of individuals around the world with the so-called ‘scatter shot’ approach aimed at increasing their chances of finding a victim.” They spray like machine guns rather than shoot like snipers.
If I were a sextortion agent, I would be so sick of looking at d*ck. I will be juggling multiple Facebook/Skype/Email accounts, probably keeping an excel sheet, tagging videos. The last thing I want to do is to re-create account after account. If I can make $500/hr, why waste 1 hour creating new Facebook/Skype/Email accounts? I will keep going till I get banned somehow, and avoid getting banned.
The experts on this website estimate that each blackmail agent attacks 30-40 victims a day. Let’s say they attack 24 persons, and they do not sleep, that is 1 victim every hour. It is easier for them to move on to a new target, than to dig deeper into one same target, and in the process inviting more trouble for themselves. They are the criminals, they are more afraid of being put behind bars. They know they are up against the Interpol. Unfortunately the last major arrest was in 2014 from what I read. Interpol sleeping for 2 years? Haha.
What will Kill:The thing about this website is most victims come here AFTER they were scammed. And it takes at least 2 hours to pour through the material here in detail, whilst dismantling your social media profiles. During this 2 hours post the video, fear is at it’s MAXIMUM. And fear is actually their main weapon. If you have no fear, they have no money.
If you maintain ANY contact with the scammer, the guilt and fear can make most people crumble.
Technically if you keep it to yourself or the kind folks in here, it is likely no one will know
Long Term Negatives:Probably need a new social media identity
Go Dark for as many years as possible (and lead your normal life)
The thought that the video is still lingering out somewhere out there. Even if the authorities seize it, they will keep the videos as evidence?
Maybe cannot rise of to be a public/prominent figure? Just in case the video resurfaces 10 years later…
Long Term Positives:More aware of scams before REAL shit happens
Able to educate potential victims first hand
Damn not being on any social media gives me so much peace and time for other areas in my life like working out, friends and other pursuits. Just get out of the social media where these scumbags prey.
Other Interesting points:The scammer seemed to be in a hurry. In a hurry to Skype. The video he recorded of me was maybe just 3 mins? I could feel the sense of urgency. From Facebook to extortion took under an hour. This is very different from those romance scam where the scammer can chat with victims for months.
Reading through the posts on this forum, it seems as though blackmail scammers confine themselves/specialize in Social Media and Skype. I have not read any incident on Blackmail where they go to Linkedin and contact your colleagues? That seems to be too much effort for them and they maybe assume your friends and family are enough as a threat.
Potential Loopholes not covered by the steps here, unlikely but possible:Scammer creates fake Facebook account and starts adding friends. I wouldn’t know since I already deleted my account.
Scammer uploads my video WITHOUT associating it with my name, thus bypassing google alerts and I will never know my video is out there somewhere. This however is a losing proposition action to the scammer, he has no reason to do this.
LAST BUT NOT LEAST, HAVE FAITH!!