recovery and reassurance

[Big Al]

Apparently you did not close your Whatsapp too. You need to close all of your social media accounts. Not just the one's you feel like closing. Since the scammer contacted you after 4 weeks you should close all of your accounts and wait the prescribed time again. Then you should open new accounts that have nothing to do with your real life name.

You need to read & do All of the steps.

[Knoxy1971]

The issue is my number is also my works mobile no, which I need Whatsapp for.

[Knoxy1971]

The issue is my number is also my works mobile no, which I need Whatsapp for.

Can't I just keep ignoring /reporting or blocking their messages, rather than delete WhatsApp. Won't they get bored?

[Big Al]

They will move on if there is no money in it for them and they can't find a way to threaten you. By leaving an account open you leave yourself vulnerable.

[SlapHappy]

Peanutbuttahlovah,

Do not judge your own situation or get worried about others' experiences here based on what others do regarding their own different scammer, when they obviously chose not to follow every step we advise.
If you followed all the advice and also make brand new accounts using brand new email accounts and phone numbers if needed, when you come back online you should be safe from the scammer finding you again.

Knoxy1971 left his WhatsApp account open and kept his same phone number. He also chose to pay the scammer, and the scammer is coming back for more as he can easily reach him on his WhatsApp and phone number. He chooses to keep his same business number tied to WhatsApp. So it is no surprise that he will continue to be harassed by the scammer until he changes it. We have seen and given this advice thousands of times here. If you leave the scammer one opening to contact you, they will escalate the scam. You can just about count on that happening most of the time.
This is the reason why we advise closing all accounts and using new phone numbers. But ultimately it is his choice, his risk to ignore our advice.

It's essential you READ CAREFULLY and follow ALL the steps.
viewtopic.php?f=20&t=16300

[Peanutbuttahlovah]

Hello guys,today i am happy to announce a month have passed without any kind of interaction with my scammer and being out of any kind of social network.

I am thanksful with you guys because you helped me going thru this hard and stressing experience and i am really hoping this is it for me and i can close this sad chapter of my life.

I will keep coming back to update you all with my progress and hope that anything related with this resurface in the future.

[randyjet9]

It has been 3 weeks since last contact with my scammer. I’m beginning to feel ease again. I’m not sure if I will reactivate my Facebook once it’s been a month because I’ve enjoyed not having a distraction. It’s amazing to see how I went from thinking about running away or killing myself to now enjoying Christmas with my family. It used to always be at the back of my mind. I was petrified and I had begun preparing myself for the worst. I just wanted to say thanks for having this website up. It really saved my life.

[SlapHappy]

I’m not sure if I will reactivate my Facebook once it’s been a month because I’ve enjoyed not having a distraction.

A lot of members have decided just that, and wrote about their reasons why in this topic. And that's perfectly fine. I do not have a FB account myself, especially after reading in the media over the years about their privacy issues and policies.
There is a recent one described here, in case you are interested: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=72751
If you do decide to return, make a brand new account, using a brand new email account, and keep your phone number off of it, if at all possible. Change your name to something different, something not easily found by the scammer, change pictures. Set privacy as high as possible, and do not add anyone you have not met and/or do not know in real life.

Merry Christmas. I'm glad that we have been able to help you.

[rommel]

Just wanted to say thank you to all running this site. The information here turned a couple hours of shear panic, embarrassment, shame & anxiety attack into a feeling of confidence that I could make it thru and that I was doing everything I could by following all the steps to move on. The cloud lingers and I imagine it will for sometime. Using all the knowledge & experience from this site to understand what happened and that things should be just fine is definitely going to help in these first couple of weeks. I plan on making a small donation soon, just not quite ready to do any internet transactions at the moment

[Metoothree]

Hi. I was scammed earlier today. I never would have expected it to be me. A 24 year old girl from Spain added me on Instagram several days ago. Then today she messaged me. She was cute and she looked like she was from a similar Arab background as myself so I was intrigued. So I messaged her back and figured we may just talk about life. She soon asked me if I wanted to Skype. I actually was a little taken aback by this.. because I’ve never had this experience. But I also was feeling super stressed from work and being single at the age of 33 was also feeling kinda lonely. So I was up for it. She called me as I was driving home and then saw I was in my car and said to call her when I get home. I called from home and then a video started... she said she couldn’t talk loud because her mother was there so she just types while on video. That was a red flag but by then I was attracted to her and didn’t want to let common sense ruin the moment. Then we proceeded to unclothe and I did too and we just very briefly did this. My bullshit radar then kinda freaked out and o figured things were wrong. So I stopped. The person typing said wait let’s continue. But I stopped the interaction and said I have to go. Then he confessed to being a man and that the video ws a fake girl. It was devastating to me. I knew it was suspicious and was so angry at myself for not listening to my inner voice. It was so clearly fake! I hope I can forgive myself for that and not keep playing it over and over in my head. He then told me 5,000 usd. We kept talking and eventually it went down to 1,000 usd. I did ask him a few times which contacts he has of mine as we were only Instagram followers and my Skype ID luckily uses not my real name. So he thought my name was slightly different than my real name. In any case I was terrified. So I agreed to pay 1,000 usd. I went to two monneygram locations but MoneyGram network was not working. I then went to a western union location and their machine kept freezing so they couldn’t process my transaction. He was getting furious over the Skype chat but I told him I was trying. Luckily none of the payment options worked. I then googled and found what I should do on this site and others. So I went ahead and deleted him and deactivated all my internet presence and changed my name. It’s hard to say how much information he has on me... but I hope it’s not too much. I’m scared every time I get a message.. that it’ll be somebody who got the video. I don’t even know how bad the video is.. as he wanted me to keep going but I ended it early. But he definitelt did get a clean shot of me briefly holding myself and frankly that’s mortifying enough even for half a second. I’ve read this thread all night and haven’t managed to sleep at all. I’m completely terrified. And mad at myself for letting this happen. How could I let this happen? At this point, it’s beyind my control. I am praying that the scammer from Morocco loses his desire to pursue me as a mark and moves on with his life. It’s kinda scary to have deleted all communication.. there’s a desire to keep my enemy close right now so I know what he’s doing.. but in reality there is nothing I can do. If I give him money, he’ll only want more and there’s really no bargaining or negotiating with people who try to make money by threatening to ruin the lives of others. It’s been a pleasure to read all the content here and to also go through the guide. I have gone ahead and done everything the guide advised. I am now hopeful that God will save me from this predicament and that I can use this as a catalyst to be far more private in all my social media and also never do this kinda thing again. This was actually my first time video calling a girl in this context lol. So I had no idea how this even goes down. Thank you for creating this space and for all of you who contributed. Knowing that most people are able to get by without things escalating is just what I needed to here. No matter what happens here, we all have to be strong and remember that time truly heals. As we get more distant from the event I am sure it’ll start to fade away into the deep past and allow us to move forward.