You might wonder what in the world a sextortion scam is. According to the FBI and the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), these scams have been for a couple of years. Here’s how they work. You receive a contact via social media or an online dating website. The person contacting you spend some time establishing rapport and eventually asks you to expose yourself in a sexually compromising situation. The scam comes in when your images are secretly recorded. Later, the person contacting you threatens to make the videos available (there goes the rapport, out the window!) unless you send money. The IC3 reports that the amounts demanded range from $50 to $300. The money typically goes to an account overseas, so your hopes of recovery go out the window also.
Read the full announcement from the FBI and IC3.
