recovery and reassurance

[dk138]

That is pretty scary, I am also past two years myself. Haven't been on social media at all so I don't frequently check to see if any fake profiles are being created. I would also be curious to know how you know it was the same scammer, not another one

[nomorefb]

That is pretty scary, I am also past two years myself. Haven't been on social media at all so I don't frequently check to see if any fake profiles are being created. I would also be curious to know how you know it was the same scammer, not another one

Its purely my assumption.

[Wayne]

Odds are the two are completely unrelated, but that little voice in the back of your head went "But what if it IS him again?" That's normal, but don't assume every scammer that ever contacts you is going to be THAT one. It's far more likely to be completely unconnected. Try checking out sites like https://haveibeenpwned.com/ to see if your email address or phone number was part of a breach. If they are, expect more scammers to contact you.

[nomorefb]

Odds are the two are completely unrelated, but that little voice in the back of your head went "But what if it IS him again?" That's normal, but don't assume every scammer that ever contacts you is going to be THAT one. It's far more likely to be completely unconnected. Try checking out sites like https://haveibeenpwned.com/ to see if your email address or phone number was part of a breach. If they are, expect more scammers to contact you.

The reason I suspect it's the same person, he has tried to reach to same set of people who was contacted while I scammed .
I am worried more everyday.

[Wayne]

The reason I suspect it's the same person, he has tried to reach to same set of people who was contacted while I scammed .

You mean the people in your contacts list?

[nomorefb]

The reason I suspect it's the same person, he has tried to reach to same set of people who was contacted while I scammed .

You mean the people in your contacts list?

Yes, I think those were my LinkedIn contacts , Quora.
Looks like they snapped the contacts once they knew my full name.

[Big Al]

The endgame is going to be this:

No responses from you and no money from you and the scammer moves on to other victims.
You might review the blackmail site and redo all of the steps if you are worried.

It really is that simple.

[Slim05]

Hey guys,

I just came in to make a small donation. This board helped me out about a year ago. I followed the steps and never heard anything after seeing the initial threat. I recently came across an article and it reminded me of it all. So I don't have any panic questions, just general inquiries out of interest, if you are so inclined to entertain.

1. Has anything changed since the beginning of this thread as far as the scam other than an increase since the pandemic?

2. Does it tell you anything about them based on payment collection- WU, PayPal, Bitcoin, etc

3. Remembering when it happened to me. I live in a rural area and on the dating site their profile sat there forever before I contacted the msg app they advertised on their page and then of course it disappeared after the scam. More simply, that profile probably didnt get a lot of hits, so are they working several sites at once for victims. Sounds self explanatory but I'm curious.

4. Lastly, and this one will probably be annoying. I did the whole Google alert thing and of course nothing ever came up, they never had an opportunityto show me the video elsewhere either. I was quite open with friends and family about what happened. My friends always joked I'm probably on some gay porn site. So, I guess as stupid as it sounds, do they typically discard videos onto sites untitled without the name when they get rid of them. Sounds absurd typing it, as I know they usually only do these things as to show you for fear. But thought I'd ask if this is common to be floating around unaware. Sounds like revenge porn tho. Always kinda lingers in the back of my head.

Anyway, cheers.

[Big Al]

The scam has remained largely the same throughout the years.

The collection method doesn't tell much about where the scammer is but the amount of money demanded and the meanness of the scammer can sometimes be a clue.

The BM scammer routinely works 30 or more new victims every day. That is partially why they move on quickly when they cannot contact the victims and do not get any money from them.

I do not recall any instances where a BM scammer uploaded a bunch of victim videos onto a porn website. I doubt such videos would get many hits and therefore make little money for the scammer that way. They would also increase the likelihood that their porn channel would be taken down if indeed they even had one.

One of the other Admins might have more information. I'm not the expert on this subject.

[Slim05]

Thanks. I'll see if any others have anything to add. But really wanted to stop in and give because you helped me.