Hi everyone,
I thought I'd come on here and make a post about my story from about 2.5 years back, what I learned, mistakes I made, and my ultimate advice for you. By the end of this, I want you all who are going through it to realize that you are not alone, you are loved, and your life is way more important than a scammers threats. Quick preface as well, I tie religion into my story towards the end as I feel its very important. Hopefully I can open new spiritual doors for some of you guys as I want to help as much as I can!
Story: In summer of 2023 I had moved states and didnt know anyone that well. I was 18 at the time, and got relatively lonely. I never got into Tinder or hinge, but rather Snapchat. I would get random quick adds in my feed and one day I randomly added a couple of them, one being a girl (so I thought) who claimed to also be 18 and from the same nearby area as me.
This next part is where the scammer really took his time to bite me. For about a whole week we would snap just talking about random things- interests, school, family, etc. The scammer also set up a fake Instagram account pretending to be the girl which looked very legit to me at the time. For some reason her having an Instagram with a few pictures signaled to me that the girl was legit. How dumb of me. However, one night this "girl" asked if I wanted to play some sort of strip question game over snap. Basically, one person asks the other a question, then after you answer you take off a piece of clothing-something stupid like that. At this point I was all in because I thought she was attractive and I lacked confidence to approach women in person so I thought, "Why not". We each sent pics, but "she" , the scammer, screenshotted my pics and sent them back to me, claiming to be the FBI and telling me to comply or they'll send the pictures out and label me a pdf file If I dont pay $400. Ridiculous. I had no previous knowledge or awareness of this stuff happening, so naturally I freaked out and tried to pay. For some reason the payments wouldnt go through and I kept trying (stupid I know) until one smaller payment went through, and when it did, I thought I could buy some time and look up how to resolve this. I stumbled upon this reddit, and blocked blocked blocked. They then reached out to me via phone number and sent the pics of me with the caption along the lines of, "This will be the end of you"- I was very frightened.
The usual stuff happened the following days-high anxiety, barely sleeping, low appetite. I then read more on this and submitted an FBI tip in hopes someone would help me. About 3 months later, an agent showed up to my door to ask me questions about my situation and I gave him as much info as possible- Names used, phone numbers used, account names, etc. After that experience I got a lot of reassurance as the agent listened to me, wrote down details, and assured me that this is extremely common, happens every day, and these people will go to jail.
That was the end of it. 2.5 years later and havent heard a peep, only the usual scam emails I get saying stuff like ive gotten hacked and I need to send bitcoin or else they'll leak me. I'm pretty sure that's one of the more common email scams if I'm not mistaken. Easy block and Report.
Now I want to get into what I did right and wrong:
Wrong: Chose to pursue a woman online (just my opinion will elaborate), didnt block the scammer initially, sent money, didnt tell my family right away.
Right: Submitted FBI tip
If I were to go back, I would have gone out and approached women in person instead of sitting behind a phone not actually making any moves. Meeting a girl naturally in person beats matching with them online by a longshot (not hating to those who use apps like Hinge just my opinion). I would have blocked the scammer the second they sent me anything, and I would tell my close friends and family. The closest ones to you will hear you and comfort you. Moreover, I want to stress that if this happens to you, you not only need to submit the anonymous tip, but also save evidence-names/numbers/account names/emails the scammer used. This can be used when you speak to an agent about your scenario, the more info for them, the higher chance of them catches these guys. Most importantly- get off the phone. This experience 100% benefited me in the long run. It taught me not to lust, and also taught me to prioritize real life stuff instead of the online world- Going out in nature, pursuing a passion, and protecting my peace.
I want to finish this off with some words of wisdom. Keep in mind the scammers couldnt care less about you as a person. They are simply trying to make quick and dirty money. That is why getting leaked is so rare. You are not their only target. Unfortunately, this is happening to thousands daily, and its causing young kids to fall into depression or even worse, harm themselves. I want to let you know that you are heard by us, and god. This experience taught me to stop lusting and start focusing on the simple things in life- Health, Family, Nature, and Jesus Christ. Remember that you are stronger than a threat. Hear me out on this last part: In the event when a sextortion case occurs, both parties are sinning. The scammer is using deception, threats, anger and wrath to make the victim feel scared, anxious, and depressed- While the victim initially sinned by lusting and giving into an urge with a person who they dont even know, but here is the beauty of all this: This happened to you for a reason; I see so many posts on this forum about people saying they are glad this happened as it taught them to get offline and appreciate life for what it's for- that is GOD healing right there. He gave you this scenario of sin and gave you the opportunity to fall into his hands BY CHOICE. The scammer may have gotten the money now, but they will pay for that in the future. The victim may have been scammed today, but they should be awoken and appreciative tomorrow.
God bless you all, praying for you, and one more quick tip that will drastically get your mind off things: EXERCISE!!!
I will leave you with a question:
Who do you trust more?
The man who has threatened, scammed, and belittled you
Or the one who created you
