THE SCAM Someone is being blackmailed with their own private photos — sextortion, the fastest-growing cybercrime aimed at kids and young men. Panic is the whole point: the victim can't think straight, and that's when a "rescue" company finds them.

This week the FTC shut down Digital Forensics Corporation, an Ohio company that sold itself as the hero to sextortion victims. It promised to track down the blackmailer and scrub the images from the internet, then charged victims $1,499 to $20,000. The FTC says the company took more than $60 million from people over three years — and usually delivered nothing. The rescue was the second scam.

THE RED FLAG It found YOU, and it charged panic prices. The FTC says this company fabricated evidence that it had resolved threats, used high-pressure sales scripts, buried bad reviews, and flooded the web with fake good ones. FTC investigators went undercover posing as victims to see the pressure tactics firsthand.

Here's the tell: real help taking down your private images is free. Under 18, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children's Take It Down service removes images from social media. Over 18, StopNCII.org does the same. Anyone charging thousands in an escalating plan while you're terrified isn't selling a solution — they're selling your fear back to you.

THE RULE Never pay for help in the middle of a panic. Tell someone you trust — a friend, a parent, anyone real — then use the free tools: TakeItDown.NCMEC.org if you're under 18, StopNCII.org if you're 18 or older.

If someone is threatening to post your images, save the messages as evidence and report them. And hang up on anyone who wants thousands of dollars to make it go away — that's a scammer dressed as a lifeguard.

Read it on the site: https://erawaeb.com/digest/daily/031-the-rescue-company-that-scammed-the-victims/