recovery and reassurance

[Wayne]

Short answer - no.

Long answer - inevitably, in the very few cases that it has happened, the person has missed at least one step.

[nanaki626]

Short answer - no.

Long answer - inevitably, in the very few cases that it has happened, the person has missed at least one step.

...Well, that just caused my paranoia to skyrocket. Which I know is pretty ridiculous, its been 2 years since I was scammed and I only interacted with the scammer through skype and a dating site. Profile on the dating site has long since been deleted, sadly deleting skype is a bit more difficult, but basically set the profile to private and unlisted so no one can contact me through there. But after seeing this, well, there may be some sleepless nights for me in the near future.

[Wayne]

its been 2 years since I was scammed

We've never seen a single case reemerge after that length of time. Not one. After 2 years the scammer has long, long, LONG gone. The time scale with these scams is measured in weeks, not years.

[nanaki626]

That is relief to hear. I figured at this point I was probably in the clear, but when one has preexisting anxiety issues, worries like this tend to pop up. But, just seeing someone else say it really helps. So thank you for that.

[scamsurvivor858]

Hello all,
I'm almost at the one month mark for my scam. I know that the scam is most likely over. However, I can't seem to shake the negative thoughts and paranoia about whether my video is somewhere out there or not. Any tips/assurance for dealing with this? Its really frustrating how in reality the scam is over but in my mind it is not. I really want to stop thinking about this.

[Big Al]

Blackmail scammers move on very quickly.
No response from a victim and no money from a victim and they move on to other victims that do respond and send money.

Beyond that, time is the best healer.

[SillyGoose]

I'm so lucky to have found this site!

I was scammed a day ago. I panicked and broke the cardinal rule of paying (low hundreds) before I found this site--I count it as an idiot fee. Before I found this site, I looked into any resource to get ahead of the scam (online information specialists and lawyers) all of which wanted outrageous amounts of cash themselves. But, how they describe the severity of the scam and impossibility to get out of it without their help was demoralizing.

Luckily, I have very little online presence (instagram only) with very few contacts and followers, less than 30. I decided to tell everyone that I going off social media for a week, to ignore any attempts of someone using my account or messages from unknown people about me. If no issues arise in that week, I would be back on.

I then found this site and read through what others have done (I started the blackmail form but couldn't remember most everything about the person as I deleted the chat thread out of pure disgust and shame). I decided to delete my instagram and google account completely. I also deleted anything else that could potentially lead back to me. I set up google alerts under a new Google account. I have yet to change my number and may wait to do so. I don't plan on creating a new social media account for several months, if at all.

I, also, live in fear right now that my video could be released by a opportunist and vindictive termite. What I mostly worry about is this termite controls the narrative around the video and can portray me any manner they wish. I'm hoping that cutting off avenues of communication will cause the termite to lose motivation quickly.

I blame myself for giving in at a moment of weakness, especially when my gut was telling me to stop; however, no one deserves to be taken advantage in this way. I know the scammer will never be caught. Hopefully, over time, my story can help others as the stories have helped me. I plan on updating throughout my recovery.

Huge thanks to this site and the contributors! It's good to know I'm not alone and it is possible to not have this moment define my life.

[workingitout2021]

Hello,

I've been lurking around for a little while and the advice given has been tremendous in my recovery. However I am still bothered by my experience and still have a hard time moving on. It all started a month ago but I'm officially blocked off from the scammer for 1 week.

Backstory:

My case isn't your typical sextortion webcam blackmail, but involved me being a member of a porn forum. I clicked on a random link sent by a user and revealed my IP to this person via PM. With that info the person found my facebook and personal email account and threatened to expose me to my friends if I didn't pay a 5 figure amount of crypto currency. I followed the steps and my social media is deactivated and up until a couple weeks ago deleted my email.

I'm not sure if I am in the clear because this isn't the typical type of case regarding webcam Sextortion and is more of a threat to expose what I do on this forum to my friends. I guess questions I have that prevent me from moving forward are:

Is this scammer from one of the regions identified? Could it be a solo person?

Lastly this person would email me once a week before deactivating my email address. From what I noticed, this person would start off the emails with typing out what they want to say in the subject line and then continue in the body. One email contained a photo which I did not open. The preview of the message started off with a question in the subject line and then I see [image.png] so I deleted it outright. From reading other testimonials sending a collage is another scare tactic but since I didn't open the email I could not verify if it was a collage.

Everyday I wonder if this is a one off where it's not a scammer from the major regions but could be someone working solo.

[Wayne]

Here's the thing. It doesn't matter the specifics of the scam itself, but how you deal with it. They're all pretty much the same and dealt with the same way. Blocking the scammer makes them move on to "easier targets". That's how simple it is. The only difference is how long you remain hidden for.

Now, as for the IP address thing - simply knowing a person's IP address won't give you much more than their internet provider and a rough location. It's not like the movies where they can find your exact address. Mine gives a rough area about 50 miles wide. If they got your details then it wasn't from an IP address.

[workingitout2021]

Thank you Wayne! I'm actually feeling way better today than I did when I originally posted. The IP address thing is still concerning because I feel that these scammers are utilizing other tools that go beyond just a simple IP address. The account details I had on the forum I was on were all complete burner emails, fake name etc but the scammer sent links more than once to grab my IP. I guess this is a lesson learned to not click on random links for me. I am working toward my recovery and things are moving along nicely.

Thank you Wayne and to all the members and admins of this forum. You all have helped me greatly in my recovery process!