Blackmailed on Snapchat: What to Do and How to Protect Yourself

Snapchat is a platform that people use to connect with their loved ones, friends, and families through snaps and regular communication. It offers many amazing privacy features that make it unique from other social media platforms if you take a screenshot or replay a snap, Snapchat will notify the sender about this.

Being Blackmailed On Snapchat

Thus making Snapchat perfect for scamming and blackmailing. People send disappearing messages to scam and blackmail on Snapchat. In this modern time, some people make fake accounts and then use them to build fake relationships through romance and then use them for sextortion or dating scams.

Also Read: Captivating Storytelling on Snapchat

This is a horrible way to threaten someone and use emotional ways to blackmail them for money or pleasure. If you are also a victim of Snapchat blackmailing, read this article to the end and learn how to deal with this situation.

What is Blackmailed on Snapchat?

Snapchat blackmail means when someone makes a fake account to engage with people through regular conversations or romance and then uses this to blackmail the victim with screenshots and video call recordings. These blackmailers and scammers use these opportunities to obtain money or for some other criminal demands such as developing a sexual relationship with the victim.

This is illegal and you can easily report these types of incidents to Snapchat as well as cybercrime. With this type of blackmailing, people get traumatized and sometimes they take serious actions such as attempting suicide.

But if you are a victim of this, do not take any illegal or wrong action. You can report these incidents on several platforms and to different authorities such as police and international cybercrime.

Different Stages of Snapchat Sextortion Scam

There are many different stages of Snapchat sextortion scams such as:

Giving Compliment

This is the first stage of scamming where people make fake accounts and then they start interacting with their chosen victims by giving compliments on their snaps and stories through comments and direct messages. They will behave like they admire your personality and want to build a strong friendship bond with you. They will communicate regularly with you to gain your trust and lore you into a deep relationship through compliments and sweet talk.

Being Romantic

Once they have built a trusted relationship with you, then they will start sending romantic messages and pictures to you. They will chat with you late at night to build a romantic mood and get your full trust. You will start believing that they are interested in you and want to build a romantic relationship. While they are connecting with you, they will start gathering information about you, your family and your friends. They will also connect you on other social media platforms and take screenshots of your followers list that they will use to threaten you if you won’t accept their demands.

The Explicit Stage

After building a romantic relationship and strong bond, these scammers will start sending you explicit fake photos as their own and they will ask you to do the same. They will video call with you and force you to do sexual and nude things which they will record by taking screenshots or screen recording.

Desperate and Demanding

This is the final stage when the blackmailers will show their true nature. They will start demanding money by threatening you through your nude or explicit photos and screenshots. If you don’t comply with their demands, they will send these explicit photos to your followers and friends. Some blackmailers use this to develop a physical sexual relationship with the victim which is completely illegal and wrong.

Essential steps to address Blackmailed on Snapchat

If you are also a victim of a sextortion scam and someone is blackmailing you on Snapchat, here are some important steps that you must take if you want to avoid blackmailing.

  • Once the blackmailer has shown its true colour. You must change your privacy settings such as limiting incoming messages from unknown people, turning the ghost mode ON to turn off your location,  and keeping everything private until the matter is solved.
  • You must take screenshots of all the important conversations and save all the pictures to use them for legal action. Pin important messages and record all the threats and demanding messages to keep the record.
  • You must immediately cease all communication and interaction with the blackmailer. Do not try to negotiate or confront the blackmailer in person, it could be dangerous, so avoid these situations to minimize the personal damage. You must buy as much time as possible by delaying. Do not fulfil any of their demands because these demands won’t stop even if they say that they will delete all the explicit photos and screenshots of yours. Because it’s a clear lie and scam that these scammers use to demand more money and cash this situation as much time as they can.
  • You must report the blackmailer’s account to Snapchat support so that they can deactivate that fake account to avoid any further misuse of that account. It can save many other lives as these people scam more than one person, they always have multiple victims that they use to gain money and fulfil their other explicit desires.
  • You should take your friends and family in trust by explaining to them about this scam and situation. This will provide you with moral support.
  • The final step that you must take is to report this scam to the cyber crime unit as well as your local police. They will start taking action and they will track this blackmailer and put charges on them.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Snapchat blackmailing?

Snapchat blackmailing is an illegal way where scammers make fake Snapchat accounts to engage with their victims and then demand money through sextortion. This is quite common these days.

Why is Snapchat most vulnerable to blackmail and scams?

Snapchat is an ideal social media platform to interact with new people as you can easily create a Snapchat account and it does not require much information. It has many amazing features such as video calls and disappearing messages that scammers use to target their victims.

Where should I report Snapchat blackmailing?

First, you need to report this blackmail to the cyber crime unit and give them all the evidence of blackmail. Then you need to file a police case against the blackmailer. Last, you can report this incident to Snapchat support and they will block this fake account to avoid future blackmailing.

What should I do if someone is blackmailing me on Snapchat?

First, you must cease all the interaction and communication with the blackmailer. Do not negotiate or communicate with them as it might escalate the situation. Contact police and cybercrime immediately to take legal action against such scammers.

How does digital Forensics help victims stop Snapchat blackmail?

Their social experts and engineers work together to uncover the scammers’ identities and then put legal charges on them. They also prevent blackmailers from releasing the victim’s private content on the internet.

How can I avoid future scams on my Snapchat?

You must private your Snapchat account and do not add random unknown people on Snapchat. Do not engage in private or sexual conversations with new Snapchat friends that you don’t know personally. Do not trust strangers on Snapchat. This will help you prevent being scammed.

Does Snapchat offer support for victims of Snapchat blackmailing?

Yes, Snapchat has many strict policies that forbid its users to spread negativity or pornography. It does not promote any kind of scams or blackmail. If it detects a fake account, Snapchat will block this account.

Conclusion

As much as people love using Snapchat, it is also one of the most used platforms for blackmailing and scamming. It is an ideal platform for sextortion as it offers disappearing messages and many other privacy options that scammers use in blackmail.

They make fake Snapchat accounts and then target their victims through romance and fake friendships to gain their trust and then use this relationship to demand money or sextortion. If you are also a victim of this sextortion and blackmailing, you can take steps by reporting these fake accounts and blackmailers to Snapchat support, police, and the cybercrime department.

They will take action against these scammers and put legal charges on them. You should avoid any random contact with new people on Snapchat because, in these modern times, nobody is trustworthy, so be careful while using social media platforms.

Share this article with your Snapchat friends and help them avoid these kinds of scams and fake people. Thus, you can save many lives by spreading awareness among people.

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