angelyn.devilbiss - chatrandom

[firefly]

Feedback via the ScamSurvivors.Com [#4898]

Scammer's Skype username . THE NAME WILL HAVE NO SPACES IN IT.*: angelyn.devilbiss
What site did you first meet the scammer on?: chatrandom
If they asked you to leave the site , where did they take you to?: Skype
How much money did they demand?: $2,400
Happened a couple months ago. Chatrandom encounter with pretty girl - took me to Skype. Recorded embarrassing video of me, uploaded it to youtube and showed it to me. Asked for $2,400. I immediately shut down that Skype conversation and blocked that Skype name; then put privacy settings on Skype to only allow "my contacts" to contact me. I did see where they created another Skype account a few minutes later to try to contact me, but obviously were blocked at that point. I then went to youtube and asked them to take down the video - which they did very quickly. Fortunately, I don't have a FB account (or twitter or instagram, etc); which I think they rely heavily upon to terrorize you with threats of family and friends. I did have a LinkedIn account but that was so old and outdated - they would have had a hard time confirming that was me; too many other same names and no pictures of me. I deleted the linkedin account just to be sure. The e-mail account linked to my Skype account was fortunately in the "private" setting. However, there was enough detail in my Skype name that a little internet searching would get you my home phone number (not my cell), which I believe they tried several times. I never answered and they either left no voice message or simply just said my name and hung up. I was able to eventually (2 days later) put my phone system in a mode where it would only ring if it was a number I provided. So, I took some time to input only numbers I knew would call me (friends / family / etc.). Fortunately, I basically only use my cell phone, so, this wasn't a big deal. My cell number is impossible to get via internet searches. I believe they tried several times to contact me by home phone over the next week, but after I changed my account settings, they always got a pre-recorded message that the number was not accepting calls. I could verify this by going into my phone account on-line and seeing who tried to call me and were blocked. Those numbers were always coming from telemarketing numbers (internet searches) and they were always able to change the incoming number. After a week (max), those calls went away and I went back to normal operations on my home phone and I hope I am in the clear. I still get calls that are suspicious, but I think I am paranoid that it is those people, but when I go online to do reverse telephone number searches, other people report it being robo calls or "free cruises winnings" etc. type of calls - so, I doubt it's those people. I believe (really hope) it's over. I still do youtube searches and internet searches occasionally now (used to be a lot) and the video has not appeared anywhere and none of my family / friends / co-workers have told me they have received anything weird. I haven't asked, but I know a few of them would have told me if they received such stuff.
Are there any other details you wish to share? Anything you say may help prevent someone else from being scammed, no matter how trivial it may seem at the time.: My first piece of advice is: Do not pay. If you do, it will never die - they keep coming back and it never ends.
Second piece of advice: Do not communicate with these people / do not even read the threats. Think about it: They rely on being able to threaten you - but threats are only threatening if they can communicate the threat. If they can't communicate with you, they can't threaten you and they lose their power.
Thirdly - while never 100% certain, I understand through a lot of reading, that these embarrassing videos are rarely, if ever, sent out. I do have a sense that if they do, they expose themselves to increased risk of being caught, and, once the videos are leaked, they lose all power to get your money.
Forth, how long does the thing last? For me, I believe I was probably called for about 5-7 days after the event. I think if you can survive 2 weeks, I would think you are probably safe. Look, really, this is a "sales organization" that is calling and following up on "sales leads". I've worked in Sales - it's really hard to follow up on more than 15-20 leads. By the time a week or so goes by, your name is probably 25-50 deep on their leads list - and if you've been tough to get in touch with, well, it's just easier to go to fresher and easier "leads" and they will likely forget about you - the way ALL SALES organizations work.

[SlapHappy]

By the time a week or so goes by, your name is probably 25-50 deep on their leads list - and if you've been tough to get in touch with, well, it's just easier to go to fresher and easier "leads" and they will likely forget about you

This is a good analogy here, except with scammers, after a week they will have 300 people they have contacted in that time. Making it more important to concentrate on the ones that are still in contact, where getting money is possible, not impossible.