Look out for webcam Skype scams

There I was last night, attending to business on Skype when I received a message. It was a contact request from someone I didn’t know. The name of the person reaching out was Alanna Padilla, so naturally I assumed it could have been a female I had drunkenly met on a night out. Although the name was very exotic and didn’t ring a bell.

I accepted the request obviously and was greeted with a “Hi” almost immediately. Her profile bio read: “Ready for some fun!!!” I knew what this was, but still, that didn’t stop me from venturing more into it.

“Hi who are you?” I replied expecting the beginning to a conversation.

“I got ure name from the member directory here on skype cuz i was bored and lookin for new people to talk to. lol. 25/f here u?”

At first it was clear that I had not received a clear answer and that the person I was speaking to had limited grasp of normal social practises, not to mention terrible spelling and grammar.

“Where are you based?” I asked, again expecting a clear answer.

“So watcha doing?” Alanna clearly wasn’t listening to my top rate bantering chat.

“Nothing just talking to friends. You?” By now I was just humouring the situation.

“Lol, so i have an idea if ure up for a lil fun?”

“Go on…” I knew what would follow.

“I was actually going to be getting to my “job” here shortly. my girlfriend was working online and i kept askin her about it so she showed me what she was doing when we got back to school after xmas break. Lol i thought she was out of her mind at first, but its pretty cool actually. we work online doing private webcam shows which sounded crazy at first believe me. but i freakin luv it!!!”

I bet you do Alanna, I bet you do. “Okay,” I interjected for no reason other than for sh*ts and giggles.

“Well what i was going to say is i have some free passes and i usually just do a private show before i get started to “warm up” lol. no one is online though so i was going to give u one of the passes if u wanted but u have to give me a really good rating so i can get more if u do tho k?”

“Ok, sounds good. What do I need to do?”

“Oh i’ll earn it don’t u worry lol. k its http://bit.ly/1C1ryVE and u should see a lil button to accept my invite and create your profile. u just click on that. Then u just make ure own lil profile and u can cum into my private chat for us two and type to me and tell me what you want me to do.”

This all sounded extremely alluring. Obviously I was doubtful of anything the person, male or female, was telling me at the other end of the Skype conversation. Never-the-less I clicked on the link to check it out and i was taken to Cam SiteOnline.

This is what I saw:

I was soon taken to a page that asked me to input credit card details to verify myself to make sure I was legible for a TOTALLY FREE PASS! Of course I declined. It’s not that I didn’t like Sara, because I did. I could have loved her actually. But where was Alanna? The one I had originally crossed paths with on the telecommunications software product. Well, she never existed.

Our previous conversation, in which she appeared to blank my advances was down to the fact she had no heart, soul, head, foot, arms, etc. She was a bot. She was firing out predetermined responses in order for me to visit a site, preying on my sexual desires, so I could haplessly pass over my financial information. Luckily for me, I’m not that desperate.

However, I did some research on this and there are many men (and women) who have been duped. In some cases it didn’t end there. There are certain set ups that do allow you to view some flesh for free without exposing your card details. Instead once you get your kit off and perform filthy acts on yourself whilst talking to someone you don’t know, they are recording every movement. They will then blackmail you. And people are falling for this!!

If you are receiving these kinds of requests through the internet via Skype and email, I suggest you stay away. It is not worth the risk. The internet is unchartered sea and there are too many pirates out there.

Keep safe people!