My experience at 17

I(M21) was the unfortunate victim of sextortion at the age of 17. I would frequently use apps to meet friends from all over the world and US around and after the pandemic as a means of connecting when seeing people was not a priority.

Through one of the apps I met someone, let’s call them S(for scammer). S had asked to get to know me and from there we talked. They wanted to follow me on instagram which I allowed and talked to me more. They wanted to see a pic of my face so I sent one. It was around 3 am, I was bored, I was horny. They asked me to send a photo and they would send one back. I never sent a nude prior so was nervous, but gave in anyway. The dck pic was insufficient and they wanted to see my face in it. It sounds stupid now, but this was my first opportunity at trading nudes. So I sent a nude with my face and they saved it and threatened to send it to 20 of my instagram followers. This greatly made me anxious and scared. They said they wanted $100 via gift cards but I told them I didn’t have a means of transportation nor money to buy anything. They pressed me to do it anyway.

Under pressure and anxious I blocked them. The girl that they messaged and threatened me with to show her the photo was BEYOND generous to me by helping me out by reporting them, assuring me nothing happened and talking to me about it. I blocked S’s Snapchat and instagram, changed my usernames on both platforms, then deactivated both so I wouldn’t be found. I lived in fear for days and felt like I had nobody to talk to, no way to express myself or my anxiety, I felt shame and guilt for the stupidity, but I’m happy to say that nothing ever came about.