They are just looking for the proverbial low hanging fruit and trying to pluck you for a few dollars.
If they get one in a thousand, that's pure profit.
I think I've heard of this outfit, but not sure that I ever heard if they stuck it to someone.
If they do, someone, for sure, is going to stick it right back at them.
(still not a lawyer)
I've been disturbed by so much invasive data gathering.
Why does FB need to know where I went to High School or College? My friends & family all know & strangers don't need to know.
Hobby phones do not need real names & addresses. Free email accounts are now demanding a cell number to text lost Passwords to... which links it. Well if it's a hobby phone, I don't care if my hobby email is linked.
I take pains to not link accounts to the same emails.
As suggested in a link above, an Extortionist gets your regular email or your real name... searches & turns up your FB info... then publishes it on a shame list. It is strictly an extortion because they accept money to remove it... meanwhile passing the data to Affiliated sites to cash in too.
The address is a mail drop at a UPS store in Florida.
BTW, if you pay the extortionist, they add your name from your credit card to the info posted.
Now there is a "group" trying to raise money to shut down this scam by fighting them in Indian courts... what do you bet this is owned by the same people as the scammers. All they ask is an additional $500 donation.
If you got a text from them, all you know is that they have your phone number. You don't know for a fact that they know your name, town, or pic. If you pay them a fee, then they will get your name, town, and if you have a facebook page or something, they will easily get your pic from there after they know your name and town. Then they will extort money from you a 2nd time, and they will have all your info for real. What are you going to do then, sue them? They are overseas criminals and you don't even know who these people are.
Enter your own hobby phone number into google to see if it comes up on any "exposing johns" website, and see for yourself what info they in fact have about you. They most likely don't even have your real name, because you use a hobby phone, a hobby email address, and you use a nick name to hobby, right?
By the way, these extortionists get your phone number because they themselves post fake ads, and you replied to one. If your hobby phone comes up on a site like that, then who cares, it isn't connected to your name anyway. If it is your actual personal cell phone number that they have, then change your number, tell your friends/family that you have a new number because telemarketers kept annoying you on your old number.
In this day an age, use a throw away phone for hobbying/buying selling things from people you don't know on craigslist/dealing with potentially crazy people who you never want to hear from again/etc. I use T-Mobile Sim cards with $20 loaded on them already, available on Amazon for $7. They are good for about 100 minutes, which I don't even use up anyway. Then I change my hobbying number every 3 months when they expire. So for me, my hobby phone literally costs $28 a year.
Posted By: Lock6656
I just got a text message from exposing Jon's.com that they have a profile of me listing my name phone, town and pic. For a fee they can investigate and have my name and # removed (I do believe it's a shakedown and I'm do not plan to pay). What should i do is this a legit threat? Has anyone else experianced this? I'm not worried legally I just want to remain descrete about my hobby.
