With our increasing reliance on the internet, scams have moved to take place online more now than ever. The expanding availability of information and easy access to people near and far make it the perfect place to carry out scams. Scammers target the average person and the most vulnerable people in an attempt to get money.
The rise of romance scams has made social media platforms and dating apps a breeding ground for scammers. Scammers can create accounts on social media platforms by providing throwaway email accounts. Because social media accounts can be made so easily, it’s easy for bad actors to target users on the platform. With dating apps, scammers can use stolen pictures and fake or stolen information to fill out an account. Many dating sites allow users to participate in a fair level of interaction without paying. Even paid accounts may still be controlled by a scammer if they’re using a stolen credit card or compromised account.
Blackmailers are exploiting every online platform you can think of, and victims are falling for their scams daily. Skype is one of the many platforms that blackmailers target to carry out their schemes.
If you are a victim of blackmail on Skype, you might be wondering how to report
blackmail on Skype. In this blog, we will give tips on how to stop Skype blackmail and what you can do to keep yourself safe online.
What Is a Blackmail Scam on Skype?
Skype is a platform that allows users to communicate either through voice, video, or text chat. Skype has over two billion registered users, making it a large social platform available to a quarter of the world’s population. It makes worldwide communication simple for people anywhere in the world.
Because it’s so easy to connect with others around the world it may leave some people vulnerable. People connecting with family or friends may also interact with complete strangers on the platform.
Often, Skype may not be the original platform where people meet, but it can be a secondary location. For instance, two strangers may meet on a social media platform like Facebook, Instagram, or a dating site and move the conversation to a platform like Skype or WhatsApp.
Many scammers like to use platforms like Skype to conduct their scams because it allows them to run their sextortion scam away from the profile they use to lure their victim. Sextortion is a type of blackmail where the perpetrator is extorting money from their victim with the expectation of payment. The sextortionist will take screenshots and screen recordings of the Skype conversation that contains any sexual content.
On the back end of things, sextortionists will dig into their victim to find information on family members, friends, and coworkers. With this sensitive information in hand, the sextortion scammers will threaten to contact people close to you and share the content you provided. To make their threat appear legitimate, they may share the names of the people they’ve located.
How Does Video Blackmail Work on Skype?
Typically, the person who tries to blackmail you will coerce you into a video call where they promise to expose themselves as long as you do the same.
Once on the call, some blackmailers will claim that their webcam is broken or there are issues on their end, so they can’t show themselves but will convince you to carry on. Others will play a recording of an adult film and pretend it’s them.
These blackmailers then record a video of you without your knowledge using a screen recording app. Once they have the footage or images, they will threaten to share the video with your friends and family unless you pay them money.
In most cases, the blackmailer will already have your contact list and will start sending the video to your contacts unless you pay up. Whether or not your blackmailer follows through with their threats depends on the type of scammer you are dealing with.
They access this information by manipulating you into giving them your social media handles; they then start to add dozens of your family members and friends. They also use your social media profiles to learn more about you, such as where you work and which community groups you are a part of. They will threaten to expose your content to those groups on top of your loved ones.
What To Do When You are Being Blackmailed on Skype
If you’re being scammed or extorted, it’s important to keep calm. A scammer will rely on the stress of the situation to intimidate their victim into complying.
If you do find yourself the victim of a Skype sextortion or blackmail scam, there are some important steps you should take:
- Do not delete any information between you and the blackmailer. Save all texts, emails, chats, etc. This will be very helpful for an investigation.
- Do not give them any money. Paying them off will not guarantee that they will delete the footage; in fact, it may only encourage them to target you again in the future.
- Do not provide them with any personal information. Many scammers will try to scare you into giving them more personal information such as bank info, your ID, etc. Avoid that at all costs! You do not want to give them more ammo to use against you.
- Report your scammer’s account to Skype. This will let the platform know that crimes are being committed on their platform.
How To Stop Blackmail on Skype
The best way to stop blackmail on Skype and receive blackmail help is to reach out to professionals. Once you are faced with this type of crime you need to reach out to the authorities to make a report.
These cybercriminals are very good at what they do, and if you try to go against them on your own, there is a chance that you will make things worse and fall for more of their schemes.
Besides reaching out to authorities, we recommend doing the following:
- Privacy settings: Update all of your privacy settings on all of your online accounts.
- Limit information: Try to delete or limit any personal information you share about yourself on your accounts. Scammers use this type of information against you.
- Tell Someone: Blackmailing with photos and sextortion can be very isolating. It’s important to reach out and confide in a family member or friend if you are in this situation. Scammers try to make their victims think that they are all alone in this. This is not true; the more support you have the more strength you can obtain to overcome this.
- Seek therapy: If going to the police is not an option for whatever reason, seeking therapy can help deal with the emotional fallout of being blackmailed. A therapist can help support you as you process what happened and develop healthy coping mechanisms moving forward.
- Practice self-care: Finally, it’s important to practice self-care after experiencing something as traumatic as online sextortion or blackmail. Be gentle with yourself and allow yourself time to heal emotionally before moving on with your life.
How To Prevent Blackmail on Skype
The best way to keep yourself safe from online blackmail attacks is to prevent it from happening.
There are several steps you can take to keep yourself safe online:
Never Send Explicit Images
Romance scams are becoming increasingly common as the use of dating apps increases. As a best practice, you should not send sexual images or videos on the internet.
Sending images to a stranger you haven’t met is a very bad idea, and sending content to a romantic partner can be just as dangerous. In the wrong hands, these images and videos can be used to blackmail you.
Hackers can obtain the content from you or someone else and then use them against you, initiating the scam. The images or videos could be taken through malware on your device that allows a hacker to access your personal data.
They could also be taken through a phishing attack where someone is impersonating someone you know, like an intimate partner, with the intention of obtaining sexual content or other personal details from you.
Avoid Sexting
A new romantic interest you’ve just connected with may lead things in a flirtatious direction. While showing interest in someone is not a bad thing, someone you’ve never met in person trying to initiate sexting behavior should be a red flag. It’s possible this person is trying to lead you into a sextortion scam to blackmail the messages or content you send them.
Reverse Image Search a User
If you’ve engaged or are considering engaging in conversation with a new person, you can reverse image search their profile pictures. This handy tool can help you confirm the identity of a person or potentially reveal that they’ve stolen images from someone else.
While this trick may come up with results, it’s possible you may not get any hits at all. No results doesn’t mean the person is or isn’t who they say they are, just that the images haven’t been indexed by Google.
Here’s how it works: take a screenshot of the person you want to search. Crop the photo so just the person in the photo is available. Go to https://images.google.com/ and upload the photo you want to search.
Make Your Accounts Private
Your profile can give a potential scammer tons of information about you, such as who your Facebook friends are, your birthdate, or your posts. Setting your accounts to private can help keep you and those close to you safe.
Head to each social media site you control and review the privacy setting options. Depending on the platform, it may be as simple as turning the account private or choosing from detailed settings about what a stranger can or can’t see.
Use Strong Passwords and 2FA
It’s good general practice to set up each account you control with strong passwords. Strong passwords don’t contain dictionary words, are at least 12 characters, and are a mixture of alphanumeric and symbol characters. Using a strong password can ensure your online safety, considering that the average password contains some personal details that could be found on your social media.
Activating 2FA (two-factor authentication) can be a great way to keep all of your accounts safe. Two-factor authentication requires the user to enter the username and password of the account as well as a challenge code.
This code is sent to an email or device that the user controls. So, even if a person has your login information, they won’t be able to access your accounts without that final step.
Don’t Overshare
Oversharing online can lead to compromising your safety. A bad actor can gather the information you share and use it against you.
Details about where you live, where you work, where you went to school, and who you associate with can endanger you. Scammers will look for this information as well as information about those close to you, like names of family, friends, coworkers, pets, and children.
Take care with what you decide to list on a public profile. It can be a good idea to look over your past posts to ensure that what you’ve already shared doesn’t make it easy for someone to learn more about you. Posts could contain landmarks, geotags, tagged friends, hashtags, or personal details in the caption. Removing, hiding, or editing these posts can help prevent someone from tracking you.
Google Yourself
To know what a scammer may be able to find about you, try Googling yourself. Search your name, username, phone number, and other details that are available on your social media platforms, dating apps, and Skype accounts.
What you find may show you how easy it is for someone to find personal details about you. What comes up may be accounts you can control where you can edit out the personal details.
For results you don’t control, you can make sure that whatever provided the result is not easy to find on the accounts you do control. That means going back and reviewing your accounts and the information that is publicly available on them.
Before blocking and reporting a blackmailer on Skype, make sure you get all the documentation you need about the person, their account, and the conversations.
Save any pictures or videos they’ve sent you and the text conversation that has occurred on the platform. These pieces of evidence are crucial and may not be available once the account is reported, Skype may remove them from the platform, which could lead to a loss of evidence.
Reporting threatening accounts and messages on Skype is very simple. Follow these steps.
- In Skype, go to the chat where you need to report abuse.
- To report the message, image, or other items:
- On mobile – tap and hold on to the item.
- On desktop – right-click the item.
- Select Report a concern from the menu.
- In the Report window, select the reason for reporting the item. You will also have the option to block this contact.
- Select Report again to confirm.
- Skype video blackmail is a serious crime that can have lasting effects on its victims long after the initial incident took place.
If you’ve been a victim of sextortion or blackmail on Skype, know that there are steps that you can take to stop it from happening again. Reach out for help from someone who can support you through this difficult time and take action against those who would seek to harm.
Practice self-care and be patient, as healing takes time. You are not alone — take action today!
FAQ
How do I report blackmail?
Each of us has often wondered – Is blackmail a crime? Yes, it is. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) can help you report email scams and other online fraud.
To report an email scam, follow these steps: Open the FTC’s Complaints page. Choose Internet services, online shopping, or computers category from the menu on the left. Select Something else. Describe your case as prompted by the FTC’s instructions. If you have been a victim of the scam, report it to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
It can be a good idea to contact your local law enforcement or the FBI and reach out to the NCMEC (National Center of Missing and Exploited Children) if your issue involves a minor. Each department has access to different resources that could be helpful in assisting you.
Can the police help with sextortion?
The police can help with sextortion. Contact your local law enforcement and ask to speak with someone who handles matters of cybercrime. Many police departments now have officers who are dedicated to assisting with issues involving cybercrime and internet crime issues.
Sextortion is the act of threatening to publish or share intimate images or videos of someone without their consent to extort them for money or other favors. The police will be able to help if you have been threatened with this kind of extortion.
They may be able to catch the person who is extorting you, and they can also help you get your images removed from websites and social media platforms.
Is it safe to ignore millions of spam emails?
However, since sending millions of spam emails costs essentially nothing, even a small number of payments represents a large profit. While it’s generally safe to ignore these emails, some people will want reassurance, so you can almost always get this by searching the web for one or two sentences from the email.
Contact Digital Forensics Corp
Digital Forensics can help you take control of a blackmail situation. Our professionals are able to unveil the scammer so you can take action against them. We can prevent the release of your sensitive information and private images. We’ve helped thousands of people navigate issues of sextortion and blackmail, our team is ready to help you.
Sources:
Number of Estimated Skype Users Registered Worldwide From 2009 to 2024 | Statista
Financially Motivated Sextortion | FBI
Protect Yourself Against Romance Scams | Department of Homeland Security
