Catfishing leading to ransom

[kane249]

Scary moment for a friend over night. Messaged me in a panic about what to do, he was getting blackmailed by someone he was speaking to online and unless he paid a ransom they were going to ruin his reputation.

He met this 'girl' on Wink, and she convinced him to sign up to Telegram as she said she didn't use Wink that much and wanted to move to the convo to there. So he signed up Telegram, and then yeah that's when the scammers hit him with the ransom. They used his picture from the dating app, and used details from their conversation to mock up a fake news bulletin that he was a paedophile who sent nude pics to kids, complete with a picture of a guys dick pic right alongside a picture of his face. Was complete with his name, his occupation, his age, where he lived and they also managed to somehow get his telephone number from Telegram. He says he never gave them his number, and his settings were set to private on Telegram but they still managed to get it somehow.

Unless he paid a ransom in Bitcoin, they were threatening to publish the fake news bulletin online and ruin his reputation (he's a teacher). Told him to contact Cybercrime straight away to get in front of it just in case anything did get leaked.

Glad i'm out of the dating game, that's pretty scary what they can do these days.

 

[Exe Gesis]

A few years ago a colleague of mine met a girl from online, and they started dating. After a week or so, he was suddenly in a panic, all depressed. He told me she took photos of him (and them) naked, and she tried to blackmail him for money. If he didnt shed post all those pics of him to his family members on facebook etc. He asked me what to do. I told him do not ever pay her because she can keep asking for more money with more threats. To report her etc. I never saw him again to find out what happened.