by whatreyougonnadonow » Wed Oct 24, 2018 1:03 am
So I'm another victim of the skype sextortion scam. It's been a little over a week since my interaction with "them." I've been totally anxious and depressed during this time. It started on the HotorNot App. I was contacted first and then it escalated to skype where I did exactly what I shouldn't have. Immediately as this interaction ended, they shared their screen with me. All I saw was myself mortified and my Facebook page open. They were opening links to my friends and copying and pasting from a notepad. They started writing messages to my friends with my facebook url attached saying that they would send the video to them (there was no video link yet). They were obviously logged into Facebook and I saw their name started with a "G" but they had no profile picture. I initially panicked and started bargaining with them, offering them really small sums of money saying that I'm broke. Then, I hung up and blocked them on Skype. I privated everything on Facebook then deactivated it. After all this, I went back to Skype and unblocked them. I received a message that said "SO WHAT NOW?". I ignored that and kept my boundaries (blocked them again on skype). I never saw the video playback, neither did I receive a youtube link. The only links they sent me was a link to my Facebook and a link to the Western Union website. My total interaction time with them was easily under an hour.
My Facebook has remained deactivated since then; but I do log in from time to time to see if they made a fake account of mine. They are blocked from sending me anything on Skype and I have not checked to see if they've said anything.
On Facebook, I changed my name, deleted my profile picture, and changed my url. All privacy settings are set to "only me" or "friends of friends" (where "only me" isn't an option.) Also, deactivated.
The night this happened, I only deleted the HotorNot app, not my profile. The next day, I re-downloaded it to see if there was anything new and the scammer's profile was gone. I then closed that account.
I haven't deleted the email accounts associated with my Facebook and Skype and I check them multiple times a day to see if there's been any contact. They have made no effort to contact me since the incident. I'm also not sure what contact information they have on me, almost sure my Skype is all they had. I've left my Instagram and Twitter up but they are not connected to my real name, neither am I in any profile pictures.
I've had 2 sketchy things happen since then: 1. Random Instagram follower request (didn't accept it, reported it from multiple Instagram accounts for pornography but it didn't get taken down or anything, so I'm assuming that account is fine but I still did not accept it) 2. A missed call from "unknown caller" on my phone. These could easily be totally unrelated but I'm still skeptical.
It's been 8 days and I'm still petrified. I've been living in constant terror and I'm a depressed mess. I read every post in recovery and reassurance and it helped me feel better. There's been 0 contact since. I want to know if I'm in the clear and doing the right thing or not. It seems like I'm in the clear because from what I've read, they try contact and threat immediately and if you don't bite then they move on.
Please let me know, every situation is different but this website has kept me going even in my darkest times. I thank you all, especially the moderators. Your help and advice is much appreciated.