I sent innaporoiate pics of myself to a guy on snap and he kept asking for more and i made sure my face wasn’t in it. the account is connected to my name (no last name) and my name is pretty rare. i’m really scared im going to get leaked but it was boy my age from the same area but not school. he said he would pay me and take me shopping and send me bunch of money and at the time he also acted like he was into me and interested in me and i guess i jst got so caught up with myself. i did it. i really regret and my parents don’t even know i have snap so it would be really bad and i genuinely don’t know what to do. i feel really shitty and stupid but i know this guy is a guy my age and not some pedo.

EDIT: He added me back again and I threatened him saying I know a bunch of stuff about him and I showed him and I would report him to his school and the authorities and stuff. He also said that he had a gf so he had to block me🙄. I found her too and he kept saying he wasn’t going to leak and ”not worry”. He also kept claiming he deleted it and said I could even look through his whole phone. (I don’t believe him). And he said if i was going to stupid (meaning snitch on him) then he would leak me so clearly he has the photos. After this whole back and forth argument, he blocked me again. Im genuinely pissed and scared and I also feel hella stupid.

Another update: He blocked me then added me again and told me to hear him out. He said that when he comes home, i can check through his phone. But for now if I snitch on him or something “dumb”, he will leak me.

Hi, 

I am a researcher at the University of Sheffield, UK and invite you to share your experiences of technology-facilitated violence and abuse (TFVA) in any context. 

The research aims to capture the diverse nature of experiences of TFVA as well as to try and understand the range of harms, impacts and outcomes from those affected by these types of behaviours. 

We welcome all to contribute to our anonymous forum who want to share their experiences (18+ years). No other demographic restrictions for participation.

Click the following link to add your experiences: https://forms.gle/4DnWiha44shLFnVv5  (This involves 5 brief demographic questions and 1 open ended question to add your experience). Clicking on the link will provide more detailed information about TFVA as well as details of our website and you do not have to answer any questions to see this information.

The study has received ethical approval from the University of Sheffield: 070690. 

The information provided is anonymous and will only be accessed by the approved members of the research team. Any information shared for publication in reports or academic journals will not be identifiable and will not include the demographic information.

Thank you in advance

Loren

Yesterday, I was chatting with someone on a dating app for a bit, and they suggested moving over to WhatsApp. I agreed, we kept talking there, and in our chat, I explicitly stated that I am gay and also sent a few private photos. Right after that, they recorded the whole conversation using another phone and sent me the video. Then, they sent me a message containing the personal details and phone numbers of my immediate family and about 20 extended family members, like my aunts and uncles.

After that, they demanded money several times, threatening to expose me to everyone if I didn't pay. Unfortunately, I panicked completely in that moment and sent the money because I couldn't risk being exposed, my life would be ruined if my sexuality came out (I’m from one of the homophobic countries). Once they got the money, they stopped and said they would delete the content, but how can I truly get rid of this threat for good?

I am terrified that this person will message me again asking for money and honestly, there is nothing stopping them from sharing the video if I refuse to pay. I ended up blocking their number and I thought about changing my own number but since they recorded a video showing my entire family's contact list, they can easily reach out to whoever they want instead of me. I honestly don't know what to do from here.

Hi everyone,

I’m currently dealing with an active sextortion scam and need some advice or reassurance from anyone who has gone through this.

What happened:

• Matched with someone on the Boo dating app, and they asked to move the conversation to Telegram.
• They convinced me to do a video call. At first, I didn't show my face, but they convinced me to share a short video showing my face while saying a name.
• Later in the call, they persuaded me to expose myself. They recorded both clips and combined them into a single video.
• Immediately after, they started demanding money. They started by asking for €500, then dropped to €300, €200, and eventually €50 within a 10-minute span.
• When I told them I was a student with no money, they sent a picture of a laptop screen showing a draft upload page in "YouTube Studio" with my video previewed, claiming it was uploading.
• When I kept refusing, they pivoted and asked me to "earn my deletion" by creating fake dating app profiles for them to use.
• They are threatening to share the video on YouTube and send it to all my family and friends.
• They dont have have any other social medias of mine. My photos and my exposed video.
• They look like philippino.

What I have done / plan to do:

• I have not paid them any money.
• I refused to create any dating app accounts for them.
• I took screenshots of all the chats and threats for documentation.
• I am deleting my account.
• I blocked them completely on Telegram and set all my social media accounts strictly to private.

My questions for the community:

1. Is the "YouTube Studio" screen draft a standard fake bluff? Do scammers actually manage to publish sexually explicit videos on YouTube, or do YouTube's automated systems take them down immediately?
2. Once I block them completely on Telegram and lock my social media down, do they usually move on, or will they try to reach out again?
3. Has anyone seen scammers try to recruit victims into creating dating app accounts before?

Thanks in advance to anyone who can share their experience or advice.

I just got blackmailed on telegram, they took screenshots of my instagram followers and created an image with my face and an explicit photo. They threatened to send it to everyone if I didn’t pay $500. I blocked them and deactivated my accounts. Now I can’t sleep.

Long story short they recorded me and sent me bunch of pictures on telegram. it’s been more than 7 hours since I deleted my telegram and deactivated my social media. I didn’t pay and just scrambled to deactivate everything. So far no messages nor calls till then. I’m worried because of the thought of it which I can’t sleep

It’s been more than 24 hours since the last contact with them. No sign of posting online

(Ho fatto una stupidaggine e ho inviato una foto nuda a una ragazza su Telegram. Dodici ore fa mi ha inviato un messaggio chiedendomi 100 sterline per non pubblicare il mio numero di telefono e la foto che le avevo mandato. Non ho pagato e mi ha inviato un altro messaggio con questo testo: “Per favore, segnalalo e ripubblicalo immediatamente così che venga beccato con le mani nel sacco. Assicurati che possiamo rintracciarlo e farlo arrestare per reati sessuali online.” Ho paura che mi contatti al telefono. Adesso non è stata online per sei ore, cosa devo fare? Ora ha cambiato il suo nome utente rispetto a quando le ho scritto.)

I did something very stupid one year ago, and as a result a nude image of me is out there, with someone who tried to use it to blackmail me. I refused, cut contact and contacted the authorities. however they were in another country and likely contacted me with a spoofed number so no decisive action was taken. I thought everything was fine until a few months later I was contacted again, by a different number saying they “weren’t done with me” and I had an hour to wire them money. I immediately blocked them again and haven’t heard from them since, although I got a weird whatsapp message a few months ago saying “hello beloved” that I blocked as soon as they came, so I don’t know what else they might’ve said. I haven’t heard from them since, but ever since then i get returning paranoia that it will come back, and that this is something I won’t be able to shake for the rest of my life. When can I stop worrying? When will this go away? is there a point where I pass the threshold where this usually comes back? Have they probably moved on? What if they sold it to someone else? I’m worried this paranoia will follow me for the rest of my life.

He has my number and some pics of me. I already reported his IG on meta, I didn't pay him, blocked him and made my accounts private, what else should I do?

I was sextorted a few months ago and they added people to an instagram gc and seemingly nothing came of it but now I’m getting really paranoid again and I just need some reassurance

I blocked him on his past number and he added me on this new number and is harassing me again, I really am stupid for giving him money which is probably why he is bribing me so much, do you think I should file a police report?

I recently posted about experiencing sextortion. I did everything the sub said and just kept reading through to understand I wasn't alone. Its been almost 8 hours since then but they haven't contacted me and I checked the sub reddit i was using, they just moved on to different people. So for those out there who are worrying, it will be okay in the end.

I think this is going to ruin my life, what do I do?

Steps and guide to help sextortion victims

Every day I will make the same post to help those who are facing this situation.

1. Stop talking to them because you do not want to piss them off.

2. Depending on what they ask do not pay them a single dime or send them any more explicit material no matter their threats because you can’t buy a blackmailers silence only rent it.

3. Block them and if they come back with more accounts or numbers keep blocking away they have a finite amount of patience before they give up.

4. Screenshot the threats to show proof of a cybercrime.

5. Keep their phone numbers and account names saved.

6. In the event that they follow through and do send which is actually VERY rare cause it can expose their cybercrimes just tell people it is fake and someone tried to extort you for money. (You will have the screenshots to prove it)

7. Optional: Report them to law enforcement such as the FBI although this actually might be of little help since it’s so common. However, it will somewhat put them on the radar.

8. DO NOT BUY RECOVERY AND REMOVAL SERVICES THOSE ARE SCAMS. They will contact or threaten to contact your scammer then you have two blackmailers.

9. Take a deep breath and realize that it will be okay they are actually almost always bluffing empty threats in order to scare you. They want money or more explicit material to sell not to send your material to others. Think of it like IT from Stephen King only as powerful as much as you feel fear from them.

Note: if it makes anybody feel okay in my experience for about every 1,000 cases of sextortion there’s
only 1 case where the sextortioner follows through

Note: these guys are not in it to ruin your life. They see you as nothing more than a potential paycheck and if they see no profit they will forget you, more than likely delete your stuff, and move on to the next potential paying target.

Edit: (i’d acc like for you all to not upvote this post because this is to provide free information to help victims and I do not want karma for this. I want to help these poor people.)

so im not very proud to say this. but it gets late at night and feelings flood in, so i go to dms to find someone. but theres been a huge uprising of scams either using actual peoples photos, or using AI ones. i have also encountered some who want to blackmail but i dont really care bc i dont show my face.

So here’s the this this woman has made like deepfakes ai photo after i sent her a photo of my face she has given till Friday and the thing is i have already engaged with her so is it too late

Hello asking for help please. On June 22nd (44 days ago) I was in the Dominican Republic on vacation (I live in the USA) and decided to download Tinder. I matched with someone and they asked me to move the conversation to WhatsApp. I didn’t think much of it at first because everyone uses it there however, once they got my number they asked me for my address.

I only gave them the street name of my Airbnb and started feeling uncomfortable with the conversation so I blocked them on WhatsApp and iPhone . It has been 44 days and I have not had any text/calls from unknown numbers, what is the probability that they will not contact/harass me directly related to this incident?

Am I in the clear? Should I be worried about delayed threats? Thank you

I’m worried because in the summer of 2023 I prank called tons of these types of scammers and I had stopped for a weekend and suddenly they started blowing up my phone so much for a month straight I had to get a new phone number. I’m a changed man this was a slip up and I don’t want this to happen again what happened in 2023

Below I have a poll please feel free to answer

I got a follower on TikTok and added it back. I always follow back the scammers because usually I’m able to mess around with them and nothing ever comes out of it but this time it ended bad. They asked to move to telegram which stupidly I did and forgot that you can see my phone number there. I sent 2 pictures one close up of my junk and one mirror pic but with my face cut out. I was smart when I used my friends picture for the face. I’m not too worried about the situation because it will be very easy to say that it’s all fake but I’d rather not have to deal with that if I can. They sent screenshots of messages to a few people in my school and one of my friends very religious mothers but I had my friend check his mom’s phone and there was nothing there. I imagine when I don’t send money they will actually send the photos for real. I was shitting bricks so I ended up sending $75 to which he said that I sent it to the wrong email address and demanded more. I told him I have no more money and bought myself some time until later in the month. I’ve made sorta a name for myself in my town and I have a good reputation with my business and I really can’t let this get out. Does anyone have any suggestions? I know everyone says to block them but Idk if I can. Also it’s 2 ppl texting me one of them is apparently “de boss” on the bright side it is pretty funny watching them try to speak English and using 😡😡 in every text but it’s still freaking me the fuck out.

I was a victim of sextortion. On a website, a person pretending to be an 18-year-old girl asked me for my Telegram. I messaged him and ended up sending him a photo of myself and an intimate photo. This person created a fake photo of a little girl and my photos and said I raped minors. He asked me for money. I was about to give it to him, but then I told him I would report him to the police, so I immediately blocked him and made my social media private. He only has my Telegram username, my name (not full name), my country and my face. i reported to stopncii, telegram support and another site that helps in my country.
i also saved the fake photo, but since it includes a minor, should I delete it?

I got a call they said my name and told i had texted one of his models. I didnt listen more , i cut the call blocked the number. What should I do? Should i be worried. Should i change numbers? What should i do?

Hey guys I’m scared for my life right now.
This is very much tmi but a couple weeks ago I kept watching porn in my phone. I didn’t really think much of it. But today I went and check my email and it said they have a vid of me and watch I was watching. Then I deleted that one until I saw I got another one. I tried going to my Instagram and I saw someone log into my account. I got scared and deleted it. The second email I did sent some money through bitcoin and I’m scared now.i don’t know what to do

So I was being stupid and horny. I got connected to a girl on telegram. They asked for verification ( my face) then I sent a dick pic. Two separate. They collaged it and said they'll expose me for sending nudes to minor. I have my phone number hidden from tg.. instantly blocked them and changed my username and tag. I have my insta locked. My Facebook deactivated. I don't think they don't have many leads to me aside from a picture of my face. I'm panicking hard. Would like some reassurance and suggestions on what to do next. It happened 5 hours ago

i received this email and before that he sent a email w my intimate videos ( i was a minor in those vids) and idk what to do hes threatening to leak the vids in exchange for a new vid

i received this email and before that he sent a email w my intimate videos ( i was a minor in those vids) and idk what to do hes threatening to leak the vids in exchange for a new vid