Iounut Zota

[ih21]

Hi gotscrewed,

I've been through a similar situation recently.

I have a girlfriend, I study Law LL.B at a reputable university and I have a full time job in a law firm. I too have a good set of family, friends and work colleagues who know that I am responsible and sensible.
I don't know what happened to me, but I guess I'd become a little bi-curious. I joined a webcam chatting site known as cams.men.com and immediately started talking to someone. He undressed and asked me to open my webcam. I did. He then asked me to undress and show him my bits. One thing led to another and I was there, m***urbating in front of him. After the session was over I immediately closed the chat and vowed not to venture back. But I did. The next day I went back on to the website and found him online. He asked me what my full name was and I gave it to him. He then replied by saying "UNIVERSITY OF XXXXX". He knew the university I went to - which meant that he somehow found me on facebook although I have set my privacy settings so that no member of the public would be able to find my profile through a search engine.
Still hesitant yet obliging, I asked him whether he was on my facebook. He didn't answer, but left me a private message on facebook with the name Iounut Zota, asking for my skype name. I obliged. We then started talking on skype and he said he was available to do whatever I wanted him to do for free. I then asked him to speak and he outrightly refused. I then started thinking this was dodgy and asked him what he would like in return. He said he wanted 150 euros to pay his rent and how he will pay it back once his salary comes in 3 weeks' time. I told him I didn't have the money. He then asked me how I have the money to pay to watch him on the other webcam chatting site. I told him I didn't have the money to give him. He then asked me to go back on to the private site where paying him and rewarding him tips will help him out. I immediately felt that something was up as he had started asking for money and blocked him on facebook - just in case he tries anything funny. He then messaged me on skype and said I see that you've blocked me. He then asked me whether the girl in my profile picture was my girlfriend and whether the picture I had with a guy in glasses and a little boy my family. I replied by saying "yes". He then claimed to have downloaded my entire friends' list. He then started naming all of my friends from A-Z, including close family and cousins. He then asked me whether my family friends would like to see a recorded webcam video of me m***urbating. I didn't see the video in itself, but I know that he saw me doing the deed and considering the fact that he'd managed to find me on facebook, could name the university I went to and named some of my closest friends set the alarm bells ringing.I was panicking, I wanted to tear my hair out and I was shaking beyond belief. I could see my reasonably stable life going up in flames all because of a little curiosity.
I then asked him what I needed to do in order to make this go away. He said he wanted us to be friends, to keep in contact and for me to deposit that money to him immediately. I then started to look up ways to report him on facebook and that webcam site, to hide my friends' list - everything under the sun. He could see that I wasn't replying to him instantly and so he started demanding that I tell him what I was looking at. I told him I was looking up ways to pay him and then he said western union, demanding that I register and show myself registering by turning on my webcam and showing my screen to him. I then went on the western union website and showed it to him. He then started asking me what details they're looking for. I replied, saying the site is asking for the country to which I would like to send and how I had used Moldova, as that is where he told me where he was from. He said "nooooo, don't put Moldova, that's where I was born - I work in Bucharest, Romania".
The site then started crashing. I then don't know what woke up in me, but I stopped the process, ended the skype call with him as I was now on webcam and blocked him on skype, facebook and everything else. I then went on to the cams.men website and deleted my account. The next few hours were torture...I could see the face that scammer had shown me, uploading the video and sending it as a private message to all of my friends. I could see my friends receiving the messages in their inboxes and seeing a video of me m***urbating. I couldn't sleep and I couldn't eat. I was in complete and utter distress, I was shaking, sweating, panting. I knew that if he uploaded that video, my life would be over.
I then started researching and saw various news articles on sextortion and webcam blackmailing. I read awful stories of webcam blackmailing that had led to suicide and fearing that I might end up like them, find this website and your story. It has been practically a day since all of this happened and I'm still panicking - although opening up about it on a forum like this has already helped a great deal. I haven't suffered any monetary loss - but I'm afraid that if this person, whoever he is, shared that recorded video the cost will be so much more.

Please offer me some solace.

IH21

[Wayne]

Feedback form #1195

What name did the scammer use?: Iounut Zota
How old did the scammer say they were?: 24
Scammer's Skype username . THE NAME WILL HAVE NO SPACES IN IT.: sinjonny
What site did you first meet the scammer on?: cams.men.com
If they asked you to leave the site , where did they take you to?: Facebook then skype
How much money did they demand?: 150 euros
Name you were told to send the money to. : Iounut Zota
What country/city were you told to send the money to?: Romania
How were you to send the money ?: Western Union
What steps, if any, have you already taken to block the scammer?: blocked on skype, reported abuse, blocked on facebook, reported abuse, changed privacy settings on facebook so friends cannot be viewed.

DOB 21 September 1986 from Moldova.

[Wayne]

I see you've filled in the form. If you haven't already, go to viewtopic.php?f=20&t=580 and follow all the steps there. Due to the fact this one isn't he normal Moroccan/Pinoy scammer, I'd recommend you leave your account deactivated for at least twice the recommended 2 weeks we usually advise. Also, never use the same usernames again or the same phone numbers and/or email addresses you've used before if any of them are public. It's a good idea to do a thorough sweep with a good antivirus as well to be sure he hasn't put anything on your system. Better safe than sorry in this case.

[ih21]

Do you think he will share the video of me?

[Wayne]

I won't lie to you. Blackmail scammers from this part of the world is still a fairly new thing for us, so we can't be absolutely sure. If they were Moroccan or a Pinoy then we could tell you there's a 1 in 1000 chance they'd actually share it. What we can tell you is that by following our steps you give yourself the best possible chance of them not posting it.

[ih21]

We'll I've deactivated my Facebook and will leave it deactivated for however long you recommend. Based on what's been said on this website so far, I doubt he will post it as he's employed all of the generic methods of a scammer.

[ih21]

His Facebook page has also been removed. I don't know whether that's a good or bad thing.

[Wayne]

It's fairly typical, but we're not happy when it happens as it means any details are outdated.