Paige is a junior in college and was just invited to join the most elite sorority on campus. She worked hard to get into this Ivy League school and has a great internship set up to start this summer with a top public relations firm in Manhattan. Paige isn’t perfect though and she now regrets having exchanged nude photos with two different boyfriends last year. Both of these guys ended up being too controlling and so she broke it off with each before it got too serious. Paige doesn’t want a serious boyfriend now anyway, especially a controlling one! Paige expected that the guys would get over the breakups. But now Paige is being blackmailed and she thinks it must be by one of her controlling exes.
She’s gotten several texts over the past week from a number she does not recognize. The text includes two nude photos of her that she previously sent to one of the guys. The background of the picture has been altered slightly so she can’t figure out when and where the picture was taken. Because of the alterations, she can’t identify the scammer. Another one of the altered pictures shows her chugging what looks like a beer but she doesn’t even drink. The text accompanying the pictures says that she must send a $500 Western Union money gram within 48 hours or the pictures will be sent to all her family, friends, and employers! Paige suspects that the text is from the first guy she slept with, but she isn’t exactly sure and doesn’t know what to do. What if one of the guys already sent her nudes to someone else? What if the blackmailer is a stranger?
Paige is really worried that both her internship and her future career that she’s been working for will be at stake if this guy sends the pictures to her new company. She would be so embarrassed if her grandma saw these pictures. She feels that maybe she should just send the $500 and be done with this.
What should someone like Paige do?
First of all, do not pay the ransom money. Do not comply with the threat from a criminal. Often, scammers ask for additional payments and even more money after getting the first payment.
Keep all of the correspondence. Do not delete any of the text messages and do not block the blackmailer. Try to delay them, if possible.
Paige could call the police, but law enforcement agencies are often overwhelmed and will just file a report without doing much, if any, investigation.
The best thing Paige could do is to take a deep breath and contact Cyber Guardian Security. Let the professionals handle it. They know exactly how to deal with extortion and blackmail.
Cyber Guardian Security offers a comprehensive plan to identify and stop the blackmailer in their tracks. We also provide you with documentation of the sextortion when our investigation is complete. Often our clients use the results of our investigation to report the crime to the authorities. When someone is blackmailing you, let us shut them down. Our team of multi-national cybersecurity experts can and will fight back and reclaim your dignity and peace of mind. Call a Guardian confidentially today at (800) 695-5957.
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