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Original poster

Urgent help needed

74 replies

Babyroobs · 28/07/2020 14:05

My DS is away in his University town. He rang me extremely distressed this morning saying that someone in the Philippines is blackmailing him as they have somehow got hold of some ( I presume of a sexual nature) footage and are threatening to send it to all his facebook friends and post on Instagram. They are asking for money. He says he has not done anything wrong ( as in broken the law ) just been naïve. I have not received anything, my niece has. Is there any action he can take. I have advised him to call the police.

OP posts:
AdelaideK · 28/07/2020 14:20

If they actually have footage which would be unlikely, I'd just say I was hacked and they took a photo of my head and photoshopped it onto the body doing sexual acts.

Cheetahfajita · 28/07/2020 14:20

Show him this thread and tell him not to worry.

Poor lad x

SleepingWithTheFishes · 28/07/2020 14:21

Has he clicked on any of the links in the email though? This would be a worry in terms of keystroke tracking or viruses

welshsoph · 28/07/2020 14:22

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

HappyHammy · 28/07/2020 14:23

Poor boy. If you do receive anything do not open it and tell neice not to open it. Thats their way in. I hope he gets some reassurance from the police. Does uni have a pastoral dept he could talk to.

walksen · 28/07/2020 14:24

As others posters have said it's usually a scam but there were instances of people posing as girls on webcam chat sites etc then asking for videos etc from the victim or for them to perform on camera etc, which are then used to blackmail people. I'm sure there was an article on it on the BBC a while back.

If he hasn't done this it's a scam. Still shouldn't pay them either way.

CharlOtteSometime · 28/07/2020 14:24

Gosh, tell him to take some deep breaths! This is the oldest one in the book (well, strictly speaking it's not - but it's a well worn scam!)

Honestly, delete and ignore. Or forward to action fraud people and then ignore. Tell him to calm down and think about how scams work. They need to be believable don't they? Or they wouldn't fool the amount of people they fool. And reassure him that we have ALL done things in private that we'd rather didn't get shared about in public!! Tell him you couldn't care less about what he's done in the privacy of his own room and nobody else will either

chipsandgin · 28/07/2020 14:29

@IAmcuriousyellow from what I’ve read the scammers tell the recipient that they have footage but definitely don’t (& are extremely unlikely to as the way they claim they took it is near impossible these days), however some people do believe that they do because of the use of their name/password and the fact that they have masturbated to porn on their laptop and therefore fall for the scam?

Does this mean your friend made the announcement on the basis he believed the scam emails - or was it something entirely different where he’d sent that kind of footage to someone/been recorded by someone he was aware he was interacting with - and it had been posted publicly!?

It’s is almost unheard of that the situation described in the scam (where the recipient is hacked and recorded without their knowledge or consent whilst viewing a non-interactive site) could happen, so hopefully OPs DS is fine.

Lund · 28/07/2020 14:32

He could contact his University IT department for advice.

LockdownQ · 28/07/2020 14:32

@AudacityOfHope

Wanks! Not wants. But still, it's fake.
This isn't true.

There are two scams. The common one is the emails lots of people are reporting where chancers send spam saying they have webcam footage of you masturbating and want bitcoin. These you ignore

This sounds more like a sextortion email, where footage is obtainment usually through using live cams, sharing homemade porn or videos to partners etc. These are not a scam and are blackmail, and need reporting.

Kittykat93 · 28/07/2020 14:37

Oh bless him. Ask if he's actually seen this footage. If not I think he's fine. If they do have footage then report to the police

TeaAndHobnob · 28/07/2020 14:40

Ask him to Google some key phrases in the email he has received - the results will probably come up with some sort of scam.

TreacherousPissFlap · 28/07/2020 14:42

Right, everyone telling OP it's a harmless scam and the mystery person doesn't have footage calm down.

OP, while not a conversation you want to have with your DS (and vice versa) you need to know what exactly happened. Because if he just got an email saying a random person had footage and was going to share it, that's likely a scam. If he was chatting to a "girl" and has either sent videos or allowed access to his webcam then that footage is out there and able to be distributed.

If this is the case your DS needs absolutely not to pay them any money and also phone the police. In our local force this is treated as a matter of urgency and an officer would speak to him in person.

HappyHammy · 28/07/2020 14:43

You're his mum. You love him and will support him. Blackmail is a serious offense and a common scam.

Original poster
Babyroobs · 28/07/2020 14:49

@TreacherousPissFlap

Right, everyone telling OP it's a harmless scam and the mystery person doesn't have footage calm down.

OP, while not a conversation you want to have with your DS (and vice versa) you need to know what exactly happened. Because if he just got an email saying a random person had footage and was going to share it, that's likely a scam. If he was chatting to a "girl" and has either sent videos or allowed access to his webcam then that footage is out there and able to be distributed.

If this is the case your DS needs absolutely not to pay them any money and also phone the police. In our local force this is treated as a matter of urgency and an officer would speak to him in person.

Thank you, he has contacted the local police.
OP posts:
Redglitter · 28/07/2020 14:51

As @TreacherousPissFlap says they're are potentially 2 different scenarios.

If its the random generic 'we've taken over your webcam and caught you looking at porn & wanking' email ignore it delete it and don't give it another thought

IF however he has done anything on camera while chatting to someone he 'knows' and they're threatening to use it thats totally different. Its sextortion and treated seriously by the Police

Redglitter · 28/07/2020 14:52

x posted 😊

HexyAndIKnowIt · 28/07/2020 14:54

Web cam covers:

www.amazon.co.uk/TechPrivacy-Privacy-suitable-Laptops-Logo-less/dp/B075VYMPHW?tag=mumsnetforu03-21

Or a bit of tape does the same job.

KittyHawke80 · 28/07/2020 14:54

Poor bloke. I really feel for him. He'll have been on PornHub or something. I really can't see how there can be footage unless he paid a cam girl or something, and they managed to reverse it? (Dunno if that's a thing - I'm not v tech savvy) but even if there is do as a previous poster said and tell him to own it. Everybody masturbates. It's fine. And just say to friends and family - 'look; there's a scam email; it's a virus; don't open it'. These people are scum.

Wilburgh · 28/07/2020 14:56

Oh the poor lad. My Ds would be mortified.

BUT

Like the others have said it’s most likely a scam.

I’ve had it twice.

But seeing as I don’t have a webcam, can’t remember the last time I went on a porn site and have no family or friends, I told them to crack on.

TokyoSushi · 28/07/2020 14:57

I agree that it is most likely a scam but just to second a pp, we had a business cyber attack recently and action fraud were excellent I'd definitely recommend contacting them.

www.actionfraud.police.uk

2bazookas · 28/07/2020 14:58

All he needs do is contact his FB friends and say

" Someone has tried to blackmail me with threat of sending you sexual images. Don't open them, its a photoshop scam."

Lookyloo · 28/07/2020 15:00

There's no end to the lengths these scammers will go to.

He could have been set up by a woman in the Phillipines and now they're using whatever footage against him. Either way, even if you get footage, don't open it and let him keep his dignity. Report it to the police.

WhoWouldHaveThoughtThat · 28/07/2020 15:01

I think even if footage does exist, unfortunately paying any money won't get rid of it, it will just mark him as an easy target and they will keep coming back for more... Sad

lissyloulou1 · 28/07/2020 15:04

Common scam, report it to the police if you're worried. If he hasn't done anything wrong there is nothing to worry about.