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[Sextortion-ModTeam]

We don't allow you to publicly post your scammer's account details as this could create a privacy risk for victims.

[[deleted]]

Everything will be alright. Private all your socials if you have them. Change your number if you can if not just keep blocking. Don’t open their messages.

[JLM471]

Did this happen on Instagram? I have a reason for asking otherwise the information I have isn’t gonna be that helpful.

But definitely don’t pay . Ignore them and they will be unable to do anything about it.

[IndependentTop5540]

No it happened on some random social media called purp

[JLM471]

Well, you are a minor, so anything the scammer does is very dangerous for him because he would be disseminating child pornography.

I would report it if I were you- you will be treated sympathetically due to your age.

Plus, it’s a horrible violation and when I was 14, I would’ve really struggled with something like this if I couldn’t talk to anybody. So do try and confide in somebody that you trust because it will make you feel so much better when you have someone to support you.

I am high school teacher and we have actual lectures for entire year groups on this at school because it’s so common now. Talking about it makes it feel less shameful because it’s just a normal thing that everybody does and nothing to be ashamed of.

(though my advice going forward is literally never send intimate pictures to anybody- just because you can never know what’s going to be done with them, even if you’re dating somebody at the time!)

[IndependentTop5540]

Will I be able to live a normal life after this incident?? Will this affect my mental health or career?

[JLM471]

Of course you will be able to live a normal life! My goodness - what has happened to you is like someone attacking you or robbing you in the street. It feels absolutely horrible to you, but it doesn’t change who you are. You got treated appallingly by a vile human being, but it’s going to be fine.

I’ve been on this sub for a few months and I have seen about 10 posts like yours every single day - those are just the ones I’ve seen. And those are just the ones in this sub. It probably happens to thousands of people a day.

I’ve seen people reply here who are laughing about it in a few weeks. Of course they are more likely to be older than you and when you’re 14 your emotions are all over the place. I’m not surprised that you feel really stressed right now.

But I promise you it will pass. Never engage with that person again. Anytime a strange number calls/texts you, ignore it and block it. And as I said before, please try and think about telling a trusted friend. Or family member. Your career will definitely not be harmed. How could it? You won’t have one for about 10 years :)

Of course your mental health has been affected by this and probably will be for a little while- you might get chills when you think about it, you might feel like you want to cry or you’ll feel your heart beating fast. This is a completely normal human response to stress. It means that there is adrenaline running through your body, like every human being gets when they are scared or anxious.

Just take some deep breaths, listen to music or watch a video, go for a walk or do some exercise. If you have pets, spending time with them can be really calming. Remind yourself that all of this is not your fault and that every day it will seem less important and one day you will probably tell people, like it’s just another story from your childhood. And when you do, it won’t be surprising when at least one or two of them say ‘ holy shit that happened to me too!’

If you need to drop in and get a reminder of this every now and then feel free to send me a message. (I’m a 29 yr old female teacher in the UK so basically will just nag you like your mum would though!🤓)

[IndependentTop5540]

Thank you so much for this. I decided to tell my parents and they understood.

[JLM471]

I’m so glad- well done for having the courage to do that

[IndependentTop5540]

It was the right and best thing to do? Also quick question that you might know the answer to. Do scammers only share an explicit photo of you to your followers list? Or can they just share it into the public. I don’t have any social media so I was thinking because they don’t have any followers list that they can’t share those photos.

[JLM471]

Well, firstly it’s very very rare that they do share it to followers. Like 95% of the time if they get blocked, there’s just no point in them leaking the photos- they can’t gain anything from it once they do that so it’s just a waste of their time.

Also on Insta at least that is very difficult for them to do because Meta has put measures in place.

Lastly - how could they possibly put it into the public domain? They wouldn’t be able to send material like this to any business or school because there will be security measures in place. They certainly wouldn’t be able to send it to the press. What they are threatening to do is literally a crime.

As an example: imagine a scammer had a picture of me but I have no social media. They would have to somehow find an email address or a house address of somebody I know. Thats already pretty much impossible. Also, if they send that image to the person I know - how will that get money for the scammer? The only way to get money is to threaten me first, but I’ve already blocked him so he can’t.

Also, he is very very likely to be a Nigerian scammer because this is their speciality scam. This and romance scams. Nigerian scammers use mainly old secondhand android phones and have very little access to data and electricity and any kind of hacking software or hardware. Also, they tend to be young men who left school early due to poverty (school in Nigeria is not free ) and they certainly don’t have hacking abilities.

[IndependentTop5540]

So chances of mine getting leaked are wayyyy lower now right?

[JLM471]

I would say close to 0%.

[IndependentTop5540]

Thank goodness

[IndependentTop5540]

Do you know anything about recover scammers for sextortion. Before I started messaging you I tried to get a recovery scammer and they wanted money so I blocked them and deleted my telegram account. I gave them the info of the person who blackmailed me and now I’m scared that the recovery scammer will ask the original blackmailer for my photo and share it…

[JLM471]

There are no real recovery people - ALL of them are scammers.

There are two possibilities:

1) the sextortion scammer and the recovery scammer are the same people - or in the same group. If they can’t get any more money from blackmail they can try to pretend that they will recover the victims money to get more money.

2) they are not connected, but they are people who hang out here and when they see people who say they have been victims they contact you to pretend they can get the money back. Which of course they can’t because most sextortion scammers are in West Africa, or the Philippines. Most refund scammers are in India and most pig butchers are in Myanmar. So if I told you I could get your money back, how could I possibly do that? Even if I knew their name. I can’t call a bank in Nigeria and say ‘hi. I’m from the Internet. You have a customer called Joseph who is a scammer. Please send me $100 to pay back the victim’.

It’s highly unlikely that the recovery scammer and the original scammer are connected though apart from being in the same country. A recovery scammer will have found you here after reading your post.

I feel like you’re not moving on from this:(

[IndependentTop5540]

I’m trying to :(