recovery and reassurance

[thought23]

Seems like the only way to get confirmation that your video is deleted is to keep your original contact details (facebook or skype) after a time, and contact them again or let them contact you, then to ask them to send you the video again as proof. If they don't send it then they don't have it.

What does everyone think about this?

[Wayne]

Try it and let us know how it goes. Or follow the steps, which tell you the exact opposite for the very good reason that then the scammer will threaten you all over again. You know, those steps with the flashing link at the top of the page to, that we worked on for over 7 years using the data from around 30,000 cases and are even used and quoted by law enforcement. The choice is yours.

[thought23]

The info says the videos get deleted so based on that I don't see why you can't use your original profiles after a year or so again.

[Wayne]

Go ahead and do it then, seeing as you've already made your mind up. I guess you missed these parts from the steps, or figured they didn't apply to you:

An even better option, and the one we strongly recommend is to abandon the account altogether and create a new one with different details.

Also, stay off the site you met the scammer on as well as any similar ones as this runs the risk of them finding you again and continuing their threats.

[thought23]

I'm failing to see these different details the site is talking about. Not everyone can change their name. It's unrealistic, frankly you're better off testing my theory after a year and if it doesn't work let them release the videos than worrying about it for the rest of your life.

[Wayne]

I'm failing

Yes you are. We're done here, and so are you.

[ReallyDumbGuy]

Seems like the only way to get confirmation that your video is deleted is to keep your original contact details (facebook or skype) after a time, and contact them again or let them contact you, then to ask them to send you the video again as proof. If they don't send it then they don't have it.

What does everyone think about this?

I'm just an idiot who got scammed so take what I say with a grain of salt.

1) The people that run this forum are the experts. I didn't find this site until 6 months after getting scammed but everything they say lines up with the best advice out there. TRUST THEM! The steps are 200% trustworthy.

2) You don't need to change your name just use a nickname and a new facebook account. Make it private and don't have a recognisable photo as your profile pic (cartoon pics work well). For me it was instagram they got me on. I deleted my account. That's me I'm never going to be on instagram.

3) How do you get proof? What if they don't contact you for X months? You never get proof. You just have to know that as time goes on they forget. If they can't contact you they can't extort you. If there is no money in it for them they'll walk away. They aren't going to hunt you down if there are easier targets to milk. You are a hard target just by being hard to find. This is your best protection.

4) If you want this sort of closure, talk to the people you're most worried about finding out. Disarm the effects on your life. Go see a therapist, talk this out. Make a plan to get back on with your life.

The scammers want money, as much as they can. They're not honest people you can never trust they've deleted your video. You can never know what's out there.

If you want some peace of mind. Set up some Google alerts to see if your name appears online. Maybe get a pimeyes account they can alert you if your face shows up on the web using facial recognition. There is too much online for them to catch everything and facial recognition is not that good yet. But it helped me feel like I had some control.

I got super paranoid. They way they found me didn't make sense. I spent 6 months learning how you could track someone down with just an image. I believe the people here when they say the scammers are not that advanced. But the technology does exist. I'd rather not give detailed instructions here as I imagine this site is on the scammers radar. It still takes a lot of effort and a lot of hardware to scan a reasonable amount of information. But there exists a tool that can take one of your social media accounts and link you to all your others. A name and a photo is enough to get pretty good results. It's a advertised as a pen testing tool but if the scammers got a hold of this they could get a pretty deep map of your connections. So much so that I'm never going to have a non private social media account ever again. Not just to avoid these scams but because you are publishing too much information it's too easy to correlate all your accounts.

But if you don't mind the video coming out why not publish it yourself?

[lordcaptainvictarion]

Just finishing up completing all the steps today. Pretty nervous and I'm hoping for the best that this video doesn't get spread all over but reading this was a world of help

[dk138]

I'm past 6 months without any contact myself. I feel maybe 90% sure it's over. Maybe in another six months it'll be 95%. But I don't know if I'll ever get to 100%...I know they're not sitting there thinking about me, just waiting for the right moment. But it's hard not to have thoughts like, "What if they get desperate and go through their list again? What if they just get bored and decide to be an asshole?" I sometimes can't believe I got into this situation, like it's a long nightmare or something.

I will say this though- no matter what, I will never, ever respond to them again.

[Wayne]

Six months is a lifetime when it comes to this kind of scam. I'd say you can up that to at least 99%