After sending him a series of threats, the woman stopped messaging him. He later noticed the account he sent the money to was based in the Philippines. That’s what happened to Billy: After his initial payment of $800, the woman demanded $1,500 more. “In most accounts we deal with, attackers have a threat of blackmail but they don’t actually have anything - they’re just trying to trick you,” he said.Įven if a victim knows the attackers do have compromising information like photos, Cidon suggested never paying the ransom, as the attackers may simply ask for more money as soon as they know they have you on the hook. In those cases, it’s best to ignore the claims, which are probably false, Cidon said. In most cases, someone will email a victim claiming to have hacked them and say they have compromising photos. Generally, attacks are not as direct as what Billy experienced, Cidon said.

“I was going through a lot that made me make such a stupid decision.” “I had been going through a hard time and it really satisfied me to see this person who was so beautiful that seemed to be so into me,” Billy said. “‘I had been going through a hard time and it really satisfied me to see this person who was so beautiful that seemed to be so into me.’ ” -Billy, who lost $800 in a ‘sextortion’ scam OkCupid warns users to be suspicious of anyone asking for money or requesting photographs.

OKCupid declined to comment on Billy’s specific case, but said the user account that initially contacted Billy is no longer live on its site. Alarmed, he immediately signed up for an account on Xoom, a money-wiring service, while she watched through his shared screen. Of their Skype session and said she and would soon start to send it around. She showed him she had already uploaded a video to YouTube

In this case, the woman demanded Billy wire her $800 immediately or she would release the graphic sexual images to his family and workplace. “Usually with these kinds of attacks, people want to get some type of psychological leverage against people, or a position of authority to get what they want.” “We are seeing more and more of these cyber attacks that take advantage of social engineering,” Asaf Cidon, vice president of content security at Barracuda Networks, said.

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