this post was submitted on 05 Apr 2026
1 points (100.0% liked)

Technology

83500 readers
3971 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.


Our Rules


  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related news or articles.
  3. Be excellent to each other!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, this includes using AI responses and summaries. To ask if your bot can be added please contact a mod.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
  10. Accounts 7 days and younger will have their posts automatically removed.

Approved Bots


founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

I’ve been looking around on dating sites and similar apps and I’m trying to be careful about sextortion scams. To reduce risk, I’m using a prepaid phone that I bought with cash, and I set up a new Gmail account that isn’t connected to any of my personal information. The phone hasn’t been connected to my home Wi-Fi and there are no contacts, address, or credit card tied to anything. My question is: if I ended up talking to someone who turned out to be a bot or a sextortion scammer and I sent private photos or did a video chat, what could they realistically do with that if they don’t know who I am? If they don’t have my real name, social media, or contacts, is there still a way they could track me down or actually blackmail me? Or would they mostly just try to scare me into paying? Just trying to understand what the real risks are before I do anything stupid.

no comments (yet)
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
there doesn't seem to be anything here