Sextortion - What It Is, How to Deal With It, and How to Avoid It
Frankie • May 6, 2020
Sextortion and webcam blackmail doesn’t happen often, but when it does, it’s a severe issue. This happens to those unfortunate individuals who put their trust in their "partners," removing their clothes and performing sexual acts in front of someone they think they can trust. While this issue usually occurs to men who fall for women who are part of a cybercriminal gang, it is not at all limited to just one gender.
What is sextortion?
This is a type of sophisticated blackmail in which criminals research their victims, figuring out who their friends, family, and partners are. These criminals don’t choose just anyone to fall into their trap. Usually, they will select people that are living a good life, people with an excellent reputation, a great paying job, and a beautiful family. These characteristics in their victims act as leverage, giving the criminals the upper hand when it comes to blackmailing or extorting their victims for money.
How does sextortion start?
While there is not a specific answer we can give, here is a general process of how sextortion is started and carried.
It all starts with an attractive individual who approaches the victim. This is usually followed by a conversation as well as some flirting. When things heat up a bit, the individual will then ask the victim to perform some sexual acts. In return, the criminal will also promise to do something else as a favour and may even promise other things. Unfortunately, once these sexual acts are over, the criminal will usually disappear, seemingly “ghosting” the person. That is when the blackmail starts.
What kind of blackmail is to be expected?
Blackmail can range from screenshots of the victim to even videos sent to the individual as an email, demanding ransom at the risk of having the media posted online. Usually, names of people the victim knows, such as their wife, employer, and so on, will be listed out, specifying who they will send it too.
What does the blackmail specify the victim to do?
In many cases, this blackmail will demand ransom in return for the criminal to not post the videos online. Usually, the victim will pay, but then another email will come by with even more threats and more demands. This will continue until the criminal is satisfied with the amount they have gotten. The criminal will know when to stop since they have done research on the victim and have created a baseline on how much they can expect to extort from the individual.
What can I do if I fell for sextortion?
Have you fallen for sextortion and webcam blackmail? Most likely, either you have paid for the content, or already have your explicit photos posted online. When that happens, while some damage has been done, there are services out there that can help you remove these contents.
To add to this, some services will help you track down these criminals, ensuring that the right people are in cuffs before they can harm you further.
Conclusion
When you roam the internet, be wary of strangers who want to perform sexual acts with you—do not fall for the trap. Often, these strangers are part of an organisation hell-bent on draining your wallet for money.
However, if you have fallen for this scam already and have found yourself in hot water, know that it is not the end of everything. With services such as ours, we can help track down and remove all these explicit images and videos to ensure your reputation isn’t further damaged and that you don't have to waste more money trying to satisfy the criminal's demands.
Need help from a company that removes your information from the internet? If you need content removal services to remove explicit images online, feel free to contact us today!
