Skype Scam Could Turn You Into An Unwilling Porn Star

A Skype scam is now targeting lonely people on the Internet, according to a police media alert obtained by WJAC-TV in Johnstown, Pennsylvania.

Authorities point to a specific case that happened to a Penn State University student — an unidentified 26-year-old man, who called police after being victimized.

The man started chatting with a girl on the online communications platform, and when talk turned to action, they both booted up their web cams.

From here, the woman talked the man into undressing, unaware that she was filming him as he did so. When he was fully naked, she “stopped and said, ‘I have the video, I want $1,000 to Western Union,'” revealed State College Police Lt. Keith Robb.

If he didn’t comply, she threatened to post his nude photos online and also send them to friends and family. The man immediately turned off his Skype and notified police.

What makes this Skype scam so disturbing is that it highlights how fragile privacy is over online communication platforms. While the victim in this case isn’t winning much sympathy from commenters, his ordeal is a reminder that what you do in the privacy of your own home isn’t really in the privacy of your own home if there’s an Internet connection.

Apparently this particular Skype scam is nothing new as evidenced by some of the horror stories at this thread on the Skype forums. Here’s a story from Europe where this tends to happen the most.

“This happened to me last night [sic] I panicked and paid because I couldn’t risk the video being sent to my friends and family on facebook. I deactivated my account though but I am still scared. The scammer asked me to pay through different websites by paying for the memberships. I got my card cancelled after that so that I don’t get recurring payments. I never heard of any scam like this that’s why I fell for it anyways a lesson learnt [sic]. But I swear I was about to go to bed and had no intentions of having a sex chat.”

Scam Survivors has a link up with directions on how victims can protect themselves from these types of activities.

Have you ever been targeted by someone that you now believe was a Skype scam artist (or any other kind of online predator)? How did you handle it? Share your stories in our comments section below.

[Image via KnowTechie]