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.