Unquenchable's Blog

You may think blackmail will never happen to you, but it wont hurt to take a few minutes to read this very helpful advice posted on http://www.scamsurvivors.com/blackmail/#/ on what to do if you find yourself victim of blackmail.

WHAT SHOULD I DO IF I'VE BEEN TARGETED?

The first thing to do is take a deep breath, compose yourself and think clearly. Don't panic. Closely follow the steps we will give you, without missing any out. What we're looking to do is get the video removed if they posted one, block the scammer from all avenues of contact and set up an alert in case the video ever does resurface. The last step is purely a precaution, but it's worth doing for peace of mind.

We've dealt with thousands of cases, and the success rate for the steps we advise is over 99.95% provided they are ALL followed. Don't miss out any, especially the one that says to deactivate your Facebook profile. Of all the steps, this is the most important one. We understand that you want to keep it open to make sure that the scammer doesn't post anything, but it needs to be deactivated. If it wasn't 100% essential then we wouldn't be telling you to do it.

1- Do NOT pay. Many who have paid have said that the scammer came back with demands for even more money. Once they're blocked, they can't contact you. If they can't contact you, they can't threaten you so move on fairly quickly. If you have paid, check to see if the money has been collected. If it has, then there's nothing you can do to get it back. If it hasn't, then you can cancel the payment. The sooner you do that the better, but if it makes you feel more secure then you can hold back on cancelling it until you've completed the steps. They should take no more than around 15 minutes.

2- Make a note of the scammer's details so they can be reported in order to help protect others. Skype name, Facebook URL, any photos that were sent and the details you're given to send the money to will be useful in alerting others. The more information we have on the scammer, the more able we are to help others from falling into the same trap. These scammers can target 40 or so people a day with the same script, so they won't know who posted their details up. We will post their details anonymously on your behalf. Please be sure to fill in as many details as you can.

If you've already deactivated your accounts, do not go back and reopen them to get any information. Only post their details if you can get them without logging back in. If you haven't deactivated your accounts yet, then quickly get any information you have but do NOT respond to the scammer while there. At the same time, you can deactivate the accounts as explained in our steps. Be aware that the scammer's Skype name is different to their Skype username. To get that, right click on their profile, select "View Profile" and then look for the name shown in blue.

Talk to someone about what's happening. Family, friends, a teacher, anyone you feel safe confiding in. Not feeling like you're alone in dealing with this is a huge help, and people are surprisingly supportive. Doing so could also stop others from falling for the same scam. Be sure to complete the rest of the steps first. Time is of the essence, and the faster you can deactivate your accounts, the better.

3- If you down loaded an image from the scammer or you don't already have antivirus software on your computer. Some scammers have been known to embed a RAT (Remote Access Tool) program into their images, which will give them full control of your computer, including your webcam. This will check that this hasn't happened to you.

4- Remove the video if it is uploaded to a sharing website. Most scammers use YouTube, but the steps will be similar no matter what the site. The video needs to be flagged as inappropriate. To do this, wait until the video has nudity showing, pause it and then click on the flag icon, usually below and to the right of the video. This gives them a timestamp for the offending footage. After that, select “Sexual content” and “graphic sexual activity” or “nudity” as the reason. If the scammer has other videos on their account, report these too as YouTube are more likely to delete the entire account if they have multiple violations reported.

If there is no flag button, find the site's contact email address and write them a polite email explaining the situation and asking that the video be removed. Once the video has been reported, it's usually deleted in the space of a few minutes. We find that once the video is gone, it doesn't reappear. The scammers cannot risk keeping evidence of their scam, so no more instances of it should turn up.

5- Do a Google search of your name and try to remove as many online references to you or any of your details that you can find. Social networking profiles etc. need to be deactivated or deleted. The harder it is for the scammer to find you, the less likely they are to keep up any contact with you. This means … Twitter, YouTube or any site where the scammer could post a message. If you cannot deactivate them, alter the settings to make them as private as possible and turn off the ability for others to comment or post messages on your profile. Be aware that some phone apps will reactivate Facebook if you run them, so don't open them during this time.

6- Set up a Google alert by going here- https://www.google.com/alerts. Use your name as the search query and video as the result type. Scammers will use the person's full name in their video title, so the search needs to be for your full name. You do this by putting it into “speech marks”. Let it tell you “as-it-happens” and select “all results”. Enter your email address and then click the “create alert” button. Now, if any videos with your name appear, Google will email you to tell you about it. It's highly unlikely it will appear, but it's better to be safe than sorry. If you don't get any emails, then that's good news. It means nothing has been posted.

7- Now you need to block the scammer. If you have them on your Skype list, right click their name in your contacts list and click on “Block this person”. If they're on your Facebook list, then you need to delete and block them there too. Click on your name at the top of the page, then on “Friends” to see your friends list. Hover over the button with a tick and the word “Friends” in it and some new options will pop up. Click on “Report/Block”, then choose the option to block them. Also log out of and stay off Skype for two weeks so they can't contact you there either. If the scam was done on something other than Skype, then you need to block them there and deactivate the account.

8- It's essential now that you deactivate your Facebook account for at least two weeks after your last contact with the scammer. This will make the scammer think you've panicked and deleted your account. You need to click “Deactivate your account”. This doesn't delete your account, but makes it appear deleted. Make up an excuse to tell you friends why you’re offline if you need to.

On very rare occasions, the scammer will create a fake Facebook account pretending to be you and attempt to contact your friends and family. If this happens, the account needs to be reported in order to have it closed. The report button can be found by clicking on the three dots in the bottom right hand corner of their profile picture.

Some apps that are … to Facebook will reactivate your account if you run them, so be sure to keep off them. Doing this should stop them from sending anything to your friends/family, as we've found in over 99.95% of cases. If your scammer is from West Africa or you paid money, you need to at least double these times.

9- Did the scammer get your phone number or email address? Be sure to block them there too. Don't answer the phone to anyone whose number you don't recognise and don't open any emails any emails from them. Delete them without opening them. To be extra secure, you could make a new email address, send it to those you want to keep in contact with and abandon the old one. If you didn't, ask yourself how easy it would be to work out your address from the details on your profile page. Odds are, they won't do that much work, but it's worth thinking about. If you paid to join a site they told you to, cancel your card and request a new one.

10- Once the two/four weeks are up, then you can reactivate your Facebook profile and nothing will be lost. Be absolutely sure your scammer is not in your friends list. After this, we recommend you change your username and profile photo as this prevents the scammer from finding you again. The username change will change the URL of your page. Do not add anyone you don't already know to your friends list, and change your security setting so non friends cannot see your profile. These are extra steps we advise to keep you safe.

These scammers work fast, and could have already tried to scam hundreds of other people in the two weeks your account was deactivated. We've seen instances where a scammer has uploaded 40 videos in a day. The scammers will not spend a great deal of time looking for you when they could be scamming others that will pay. They are not going to send the video to your friends and family, even if they did show you their details.

They are not going to suddenly reappear six months, a year or ten years down the line. After a few weeks the chance of your video suddenly resurfacing are next to zero. If you did pay them once, then they may try a little harder to find you, but will still give up and move on in a very short space of time.

So what else can you do to help fight these scammers? Getting the word out is essential. The more people are aware of these scams, the less likely they are to fall for it. Education is the key to fighting these scams. The best way to damage them is to help cut off their source of victims.

"Should I **contact … The more they receive reports on the scam, the more likely they can do something about it.

Want more information? There is more useful tips and tricks on http://www.scamsurvivors.com/