sarah.berada in Skype

[firefly]

The victim met the scammer on chatroulette. They moved on 1 to 1 cam on skype, where the record was made. The scammer post the video on Youtube and removed after the victim accepted to pay.

Username in Skype: sarah.berada
Receiver of the money: Hamza Bekhali, Morocco

sarah.berada
Location: Morocco
Language: French
Gender: Female
Age: 22
BD: September 3, 1990.

[Red Aces]

Thank you firef1y for the help.

[Red Aces]

Okay so this is my story on this scammer.

I was on chatroulette and met a "girl", Sarah, who had multiple pictures. She was a good looking girl and I got lured in. After chatting for a few moments we went to a skype session. Her skype name was Sarah Berada. There we chatted a few moments further and she wanted to video call. I accepted and it was a video of a girl. The cam had frozen a few times, I now know that she was buying time to get me on my cam to record it. Then after a few moments their cam worked and we engaged in acts together. Shortly after this about 2-3 minutes I noticed on my screen that their cam had changed to a computer screen, it showed my cam and it was a video in a media player. The person then told me and showed me that they had my friends list on facebook. They showed me a few friends pages and that they had links to their pages. I was even showed a friends profile with a message dialog box open. I instantly freaked out and panicked. They told me they would send the video to my friends if I did not send them money. I agreed to send the money. Thinking it would be $1,000 US dollars or more, I freaked some more. I was told to wire $400 through western union. Then I was told to screen share my computer screen via skype, where they can see what I am doing on my screen. I did this and showed them I was wiring them the money. After that I was told to give them the Western Union tracking number. I supplied the information. They then sent me a link that was of a youtube video that had been deleted, I'm not sure if this was my video or not, as I never saw the video on a youtube link. The scammer only showed me the video that was recorded and playing on their screen on a media player. They then told me the money would take up to 12 hours to receive as it was 1:20am their time, 7:20pm US time. I guess it is a good thing that this happened because the money was not instantly taken. The name was Hamza Bekhali, Morocco. The scammer told me to get online at 2pm my time and he would show me the video deleted. I agreed and signed off.

I then began to freak out even further as my life was over or so I thought. I got instantly sick to my stomach and cried for about an hour that I had ruined my career. I too like many others scammed had young people and family on my friends list. I google searched skype blackmail and found this site on the very top of my search. I got back on the computer and logged in to the chat to talk to firef1y. He walked me through step by step what to do to protect myself. This was yesterday evening. So one day in I have not had any video surface or any friend say that they have received the video in a message. I changed my username on my facebook pages, changed the profile picture, and deactivated the accounts. I have set my twitter acount to private, and went online this afternoon to find all the places my username and email was online. I deleted flickr, mylife, etc. accounts and set up a new email address. I called Western Union to have the money transfer cancelled and the money to be returned into my account. As soon as the money is refunded I am going to delete my Western Union account. I have a calming sense right now because I do feel I have taken all the precautionary measures that have been laid out on this forum. But in the back of my mind I am constantly second guessing my bravery and wondering when I'll get the call that someone has seen the video. I really don't want to have to explain what I was doing to anyone nor do I want someone to see me in that vulnerable state. I am a respected member of my community and it would devastate me and my career if this video was seen. Part of me realizes that I made a silly mistake and that if the video was seen that I would just have to live with the consequences. As terrible as that would be. I have prayed a lot for healing and comfort during this incident.

Hopefully all of the advice is right that this will all blow over in a week or so.

[Ruffled Feathers]

Hi Red Aces

I have just read your post and it gave an excellent description of how you felt and what you are feeling, You have followed all the instructions you have been given, you will feel vindicated very soon.

You have changed and blocked everything possible, you have talked to this site and just know we are here to help you at all times.

You will recover from this, it is a huge life lesson, but it will make you into a much stronger and a much more aware person of those around you. You can help others through this experience, not necessarily a blackmail experience but just in every day life being compassionate for those who are going through their life experiences.

Know we understand, know we do not under any circumstances sit in judgement --- we all make mistakes, and learn from them.

I wish you all the best, and just to let you know. come to Live Help when you need to talk, or to just update us on how you are doing. So far, so great. Keep up the good work, know you still have things to deal with, but trust me, you will be OK. Now is the time that your need rest and good food, These creeps make your life seem like you can never live again, but trust me you can and will.

Please now take care of YOU --- and know we are here for you.

RF

[Red Aces]

Okay so I plan to kinda update this as a journal as days go on. I am in day two of my post scam. Almost feel like I had a disease such as cancer or something, although those people have it way worse than I do. This may aide in my recover and help me rid this incident of my mind and memory altogether.

So day two:

I slept better last night knowing I've protected myself pretty good by deleting information online, canceling accounts, etc. I've had a pretty good day and have only thought about this incident randomly while I had down time to allow myself to reflect and think about it. I worked today however and kept myself pretty busy. I am having a group of friends over tonight and we are grilling out. Trying to keep myself busy and not thinking. I have yet to tell anyone about the scam and honestly I'm not sure if I will. I am the type of person who keeps things to myself but can often become depressed if I bottle up everything and don't talk about. So to me this is my therapy. I don't think my family or friends need to know what has happened as it is something I want to go away an have no memory of. By telling others I know I feel that may come back to haunt me one day.

I've read some more posts of others being scammed and it has allowed me to realize I'm not alone. This is a common mistake made online. I've also seen a few posts of people asking when to deactivate a Facebook account. I honestly think that Facebook is a good thing and has lots of uses. But it is also a thing that we really don't "need" in our lives. I am trying to take this experience as a wake up call to get away from social media and explore the real world and to live life outside of technology. Outside of the Internet and live life to the fullest. We don't know how many days we have left on earth and we need to maximize that to the fullest.

I have a new outlook on life. I'm a religious person and I think God was using this experience to help me grow and to make me stronger as a person.

Hope some other survivors and those in pain read my posts as a help that life will go on.

[Red Aces]

Almost forgot. No contact from the scammer as they have noway to contact me. No friends have received a message with the video and no video has surfaced on YouTube. Google alerts hopefully is working the way it should. I only have it set to videos with "my name" and a few other names in the alerts.

[SlapHappy]

You could set one with your email address as well, if the scammer has it or it is easily guessed. And if an email does arrive from unknown person, even if not the scammer name, delete them UNOPENED. They will know then that you are not talking, and they will not be able to trace whether you looked and are worried and "might talk."

[Red Aces]

The email address that they have I never use or check. So I'm not worried about that. I don't open any email I don't recognize. And if it's something I may know but am not sure I still delete it.

I have made a new email address and plan to transition all my things over to it and fully delete/close that email account. Thanks for the advice though.

[SlapHappy]

Your're welcome. Just keep your "silent head low," and things will be fine.

[kandeemann]

Someone has been busy, too many Moroccan account transfer scams going on. Sarah got me today too. Same deal, chatroulette, got to Skype, she immediately wants to see my business (I knew it was a scam, but figured it was a porn site ad, you know?). Screen shuts out after "she sees" me, then she tells me to call again, she had a surprise; boom, my video posted on youtube with the link to prove. I was processing the money, but then it wouldn't work, she commanded I go find a Western Union, I let her know my phone is about to die so she gave me 20 min. I immediately called a friend to get his help on it. After the big reveal I knew I had to get out of this mess and was racking my brain, all the while knowing I shouldn't just log off and then run, but something could be done. I talked it over with a friend and we decided that my privates being revealed isn't as big as giving in to a bully, especially because they'd probably hit me up again later for more money. I headed back home ready to deactivate everything, texted and emailed a bunch of people to let everyone else know a possible spam video would show up with my name (I figured scare them from watching it! I'm more afraid kids and older family members would see my stuff). Now I wait . Firef1y was the bomb with advice, and Scam Survivors is doing a great thing here. I just hope this post helps someone else out who's freaking out. Don't negotiate with terrorists, the fact that they're being so aggressive for money shows their desperation, you are the one with the power. Be brave, follow advice from the forum, and it'll all be good. I'm hoping, anyways.