Being Blackmailed on Google Hangouts? We Can Help

 It’s fair to state that Google is the biggest technology company there is in the world. Being an American multinational company there comes a sense of safety and trust when using one of their many platforms. But, just how safe can a large tech company be? In this article we’ll give you some advice what to do if being blackmailed on Google Hangouts.

There are recent reports of cyber-crimes of blackmail, especially online sextortion, appearing on Google Hangouts.

Reports show individuals meeting strangers on the platform and then ultimately being threatened with their private and privileged content to be exposed through social media platforms among other avenues. Google Hangouts has become a favorite when it comes to sextortionists.

The platform gives these criminals a chance to not only blackmail the victim through Google Hangouts only, but also through Google Chat.  This is an extension that will soon completely replace Google Hangouts – and through email, also known as email extortion.

If you are familiar with our articles or have done some research of your own before ending up here, you should know what sextortion is and what it entails. It could be a tough pill to swallow but believe that you are not the only person that has fallen victim to this cyber-crime.

Based on our own cases Digital Forensic has worked on, we have seen hundreds of cases starting on Google Hangouts. Reports show that sextortionists from The Ivory Coast, specifically, utilize this platform the most, but why?

What makes Google Hangouts so special? Let’s get into it.

Google Hangouts has many features that can be beneficial to the suspect.

The platform allows you to find people by their name or email address, and gives you the ability to send a message to spark up a conversation. If you are wondering how these suspects find your name or email, if you haven’t given them that information already, you can blame it on the dark web and data breaches which leak tons of your private information to the web.

The dark web is one of the many ways these criminals look for their next target. When speaking about Google Hangouts scams, we have to hone in on the two most common forms of online blackmail that are seen on the platform: sextortion, and email sextortion.

These two types of Google Hangouts sextortion

Suspects create more than one Hangouts account and start to add random accounts. A typical victim wouldn’t assume this person would cause harm on such a platform, so they usually respond.

Lots of sextortion scams start on social media but can be traced to more than one platform. Sextortionists try to persuade the victim to move the conversations on other platforms such as Google Hangouts because that gives them more information about their victim like an email address which gives them another way to harass.

• Email Sextortion

The majority of people would say they check their email on a daily basis. Gaining access to email addresses gives the suspect the ability to not only harass victims on google hangouts. It also allows the perpetrator to send countless threatening emails, which can make it hard for a victim to avoid.

Sextortion tends to lead to email sextortion or extortion. An additional tactic these criminals use is the act of being a different criminal. If they gain access to your email address that gives them the opportunity to create and send phishing websites that the victim can potentially fall for along with acting as another individual claiming, they have the victim’s explicit material.

If the victim is vulnerable enough, the suspect can also persuade them or scare them into sharing their Google account login. 

Once they are in a Google account, these criminals have access to contacts that may include business emails amongst other important people or organizations a victim may be linked to.

What Should a Victim Of Sextortion Do?

Google Hangouts allows the suspects to use more than one cyber-crime which gives them a massive advantage in their scheme.  But there are ways in weakening or putting an end to their tyranny. Before you seek out law enforcement or blackmail specialists – which we always recommend you do! You can try to find ways on how to lessen the blow if these criminals do follow through with their threats:

1. Document every interaction you have had with the suspect and their accounts.
2. Strengthen your privacy settings on Google Hangouts, i.e., disable the ability to see when you are active online, and which device you’re on.
3. Customize your invitations by deciding who can contact you directly and who can send you invitations.
4. Strengthen your privacy settings on all social media accounts.
5. Stall the suspect as long as you can until you seek out specialists.

How do I report blackmail to Google?

Should you ever be a victim of a cyber-crime, we hope that these tips will be helpful to you. There are hundreds of cyber specialists that know how to deal with blackmail. So be sure to do your research, and do not try to handle this on your own. As one of those companies, we are available to you 24/7 to take on your case.

We specialize in blackmail, and sextortion amongst many other cyber-crimes. Our Team has a 90% success rate in receiving proof of deletion of your content. If You Are Being Blackmailed on Google Hangouts, contact our Sextortion Helpline . We can help you gain a piece of your life back.