Embarrassed, ashamed, but not scammed...yet. Please help!!!

[Med100]

Hi all,
It’s a relief to have found this site. But I’ve got a problem that I’m a bit ashamed and embarrass about.

I’m sure I’ll miss details but here’s the straight skinny:

Perusing doublelist (the new craigslist)....
I put ads up and I’ve answered ads.

I received an email randomly about a month (just a guess) after I posted an ad and/or replied to an ad.

Received VERY sporadic communication that I shrugged off.
Things like, “what’s up?” Then I’d reply “not much”.
Weeks would go by...
Random communications every couple weeks, maybe even over a month, then thanksgiving night this “girl” sends me an email...
“What’s up?”
I said, “not much”.
She says she wants to meet up.
Here’s where I made my mistake...
We communicated back and forth that night...
Zero talk of age, no pics of her, but I sent a naked pic....
(God I’m stupid)...
She asks for my number so I give it to her. (TextNow).
She emails me and says her parents are drunk so she can have the car until tomorrow.

Red flag? Yeah. But I asked her how old she was, made clear statements that I’m looking for fun that is legal and only if you’re over 18.

Long story short...
Either she was drunk or from another country I get texts that she’s on her way.

I gave her a local place (obviously not my address) Where I told her I’d meet her.

Bottom line is she kept giving me an eta. Kept me waiting and waiting.

She never showed.
Hours later I get a call from a number that comes back (according to caller Id) the state police.

Keep in mind any meaningful chatting we had (via text) started that night.
This “person” left a vm stating he’s investigating a crash in and around the area that I gave her the address to. Said, “this is cpl xxxx, I’m investigating an accident that occurred at “zero twelve hundred hours” I’m looking for a parent or guardian of this young girl, saw you were the last person to contact her. Your caller id comes back to “daddy” so any help you can give me to help in my investigation I would appreciate”.
The # he left to call back was different than the number the caller id says he called from. But BOTH numbers come back to the police.
I get scared and delete everything. I’m unsure why but I do.
11 days goes by and nothing.
I made another mistake (goddamn beer) and texted “her” number saying “are you ok?”
Get a call and text the next morning from “her father” stating “did you know she is 15 and a child?”
Stating he’s in the military and has connections to run forensics. Can find out everything so just for me to be upfront.
I was.
He yells at me, threatening that his ex wife wants to call the police.
Now, I am shocked. She sent me a clothed pic. And while she looked young I didn’t know how young. This is why I would text her asking how old and telling her she needs to be over 18. I do still have those texts.
He states that he thinks we’ve been doing this a while. Demands to get the email trail. I tell him I deleted it all (truth), so instead I email him the email address she initiated contact with.
He then takes hours to get back to me and says, “I’ve got a lot to learn about my daughter” blah blah blah.
Says he’s up for a promotion and doesn’t need a paper trail.
Basically saying if I help with the bills he’ll make this all go away.
No accents no horrible misspellings. And he calls me daily.
Wants me to send $ via some online banking transfer thing called “Zelle”.

I’m a COMPLETE FOOL bc before he could convince his “ex wife” to NOT press charges he just needed to run my info and make sure I’m not a child predator-of which I’m not.
So, after he promises me it’s between us I give him my REAL name.
He gets back to me literally only a few hours later.
Long story short he wants about $4,000. Says the truck she was driving was totaled and she’s got a smashed in face.
Now,
Here I am, shocked that she’s 15, and that she’s hurt.
He’s not quite threatening to call police, but as I think back I don’t think it matters.
I DID send a naked pic but had ZERO idea and zero discussion of age.
She even asked me what I wanted to do and I said, “let’s have a drink and see”.
I have ONE close friend I can confide in....he says I’m being scammed.
He knows some ppl who can check if there was even an accident in the area at that time.

I’ve been scammed right?

Here’s the part I’m really ashamed of...I’m married.
I’ve got too much to lose to not pay this.

Help!!!!!
So scared.

[Wayne]

Take a look at viewtopic.php?f=20&t=27612 to see how that compares with your story, then check out www.blackmailscams.com

[Med100]

I did read that. But it still feels different.

I deleted ALL accounts and phone numbers that I dealt with this person.

[SlapHappy]

Wayne is correct. It is the same type of scam except this guy got fancy and was able to spoof the “police” numbers. In that topic you will see that we have found between pages 8-15, that this scam is run by criminal gangs both inside and outside state prisons.
One such group got busted recently in South Carolina that we identified years ago. You can see some of the real faces of some of scammers reported in that link.

Do not pay them. It will not affect the outcome for the better but make things worse. They are more likely to post and will not stop until you disappear. They rarely if ever do anything they threaten to do but if they call one more time on another number change your phone number. Follow all steps you will receive after filling out the scammer details form at the second link.

[Med100]

I filled out the form.
Thank you so much all!!!!

[SlapHappy]

Here is the media article about the South Carolina bust.
Inmates ran $560K online dating extortion scheme
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=72331

Inmates and their associates outside of prison picking up the cash have also run this scam in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Georgia, California, and Michigan if my memory of our topic on this serves me right. Probably other states, too.
A few of those guys actually had the gall to post pictures of themselves inside the prison, holding the contraband cell phones.

[Med100]

Wow,
That article is pretty spot on with what I just encountered.
Thanks for sharing!
This calmed me down quite a bit.
Thank you.

[SlapHappy]

These gang members in prison who do the initial contact do not save videos on their smartphones, because that is evidence of crime beyond just possessing the phones, and means they get to stay in prison for another 5-10 years if caught. A risk most do not take if they have any brain at all.

[Med100]

Now I’m more scared.
Somehow they have my personal cell phone #.
How did they get it and what should I do?
I’m shaking now.

[Med100]

Am I overreacting?
They now have my name, cell phone, some of my emails.
I’m assuming with this info they probably have my address.