Scammed and Blackmailed by a writer from Africa

First of all, pls excuse my english.

So here it goes, kinda long, but if you are a student hoping to use the service, I encourage you to read this.

Up until last week i WAS still a student. I uses writing service alot of the time, usually sticking to 1 or 2 writers only, but there are subjects which the writer felt they are not capable to do so I had to search for other writers.

By posting my request on another livechat alot of writers approached me, usually what i do is ask a few questions and narrow down the writers which i think i might work with.

I guess with my time zone , most of these writers turned out to be kenya based, and i was stupid enough not to ask in the first place.

Anyway, about 2 weeks ago, i received a blackmail email from an email address which i have never seen before. There was an attachment of the assignment brief i provided to some new writers, as well as an email from this blackmailer to my school. I swear i have been so careful not to leak out my school information. But i guess i was not careful enough.

Basically the email is to ask for money and this person is from kenya. I panic and paid up to him, stupid i know.

After a day, this person provided another email from my school claiming they are willing to provide a generous sum of money of they were to expose me. Once again i was stupid and added more money. The nightmare doesnt end here. This blackmailer will send me msg 24/7 claiming they were threaten and i have told other people of his blackmail, and he will have no choice but to report me in. I swear, those days were the worst ever, i was in sl much fear, i hardly ate nor sleep, just constantly looking at my phone. He also "made up" emails i send to him, so stupid. Because i kept all email i send to each writers.

After discussion with my family, they decided it was best to withdraw from my course and to report in this blackmailer anyway we can. I was able to get hold of his Name and phone # because the transaction was made to a mobile money service. I guess in order to open this type of account id would need to be provided rite.

This person was stupid to think its a crime to buy/ sell work, but blackmail is not illegal.

I also report this to my local police department, as well as Kenya police - via their only crime report page. I also reported to IC3 as well.

My aim for this long post is to expose the email address used by this person, i gathered this info my search the email i send to writers, checking the ip etc. And to emphasis not to use kenya writers!!!!!

Email address used:
ballamy768@gmail
passionate_writers@live.com
juderotich@gmail

1 more i am trying to clarify, will update this post if i have more.

I STRONGLY recommend any student to stay away from Kenya writers. My lesson was very expensive.

How did you pay him - do you have the payee's name?

This is really sad. It has been previously alleged that some 'writers' blackmail students, but the experience you recounted here is horrific to say the least. However, as tempting as it is from your experiential point of view to demonise Kenyans, I'd say it is not fair to imply that (all) Africans or Kenyans are necessarily unscrupulous. I will only advise that students should be more discreet in their interactions with writers by not revealing details of themselves (linking them to particular schools) that can be used to blackmail them - until they are able to establish trust in specific writers.

Regarding your unfortunate experience, it is possible to trace this criminal and at least name and shame him on the Internet if he can't be brought to justice in Kenya. How did you pay him? I reckon his real identity can be ascertained that way.

Here is a little follow up on:

I received a very suspicious email from someone claiming to be the lawyer of EssayScam Investigators.

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Essayscam Investigators <essayscam@lawyer.com> 2014年7月10日 下午4:48

To Whom It May Concern,
It has come to our notice that you were recently scammed or blackmailed by a writer and we are taking it upon ourselves to eliminate and prosecute such culprits. Kindly provide a few details about the blackmail including the identity of the individual and we will work with our lawyers and online IT experts to trace the person so that he or she can face justice. If you cooperate with us you will not have any trouble with your university or college.

We are looking forward to your response.

Essayscam

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If this is really from Essayscam, I am sorry for posting it, but I am pretty sure it's not.

I also received another threat from this blackmailer ( not sure if it's a theat) , but basically they are not happy that I exposed them.

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I threatened I was going to send the evidence but I did not do it. The only reason I am going to do it is the post you made on essayscam.

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There are some people here who would very much like me to expose the real name and phone number of the scammer, blackmailer. I don't think I will do it at this very moment because my local police said it's not a good idea yet. They have taken on this case and said if i expose any information online is not a good idea.

I actually have 2 more email address whom I believe to be from the same person. I will post here again once I confirm it.

Yeah, that's a tough spot. I do think you are now taking the right approach by not putting anymore details out into the universe. If you don't have a lawyer on the case, then best to keep mum for a bit. If anybody is serious about helping you, then demand a phone conversation.

Think about it for a while and when you feel that you are in the clear, take that b-tard down. I definitely want to know his name.

I would also take steps to protect my identity from being stolen. Definitely monitor your credit score/reports - there are ways to do this without paying money. Its easy to have your identity stolen if you irritated the wrong person.

juderotich@gmail

This ex-writer has explained to me he is not sure how the material I provided to him ended up with the blackmailer.

He also told me he is being send horrible and offensive email from other writers on this forum.

Pls note he has now retired from his writing service and he would like me to explain this to ppl on this forum so he will no longer receive the offensive email.

I want to edit the above post, but I am not sure how to.

You should provide all their details. A blackmailer will always defend him/herself in order to have another chance to commit the same crime.

Sorry for what you went through. One of the email addresses- juderotich- sounds Kenyan. However, I cannot tell whether it really is a Kenyan or someone tarnishing the name of responsible Kenyan writers. Do you have any other information about the culprit, maybe the company name or location? It was good of you to report the matter to the Kenyan authority and though I am not trying in anyway to disappoint you, cyber crimes and anything related to the internet is still not being handled effectively here( I am Kenyan writer). Why not search for that thug online? If you can trace accounts and prove your case, you might get a way to have those online financial accounts frozen, blacklisted or closed altogether. And don't let him( or is it her) scare you anyway. He/she may have fooled you but you will have the last laugh pretty soon when he/she meets another scammer and tables will turn.

Bad move. These con artists had nothing on you except manufactured documents. You should have held fast and not shown fear by pulling out of school. You should have simply stopped paying him. Then waited. If consequences would have come. The implied notion that the university would pay him for information should have been a red flag. No university would pay for information on a student. Academic dishonesty reports do not work that way.

The email that was received supposedly from EssayScam is a fake. EssayScam will never contact any of these participants with such an email. The whole point of this forum is to expose the scammers by shaming them into stopping what they are doing. EssayScam will not and cannot file any lawsuits on behalf of anybody. You have to remember that because these scammers will take on fake identities if it means that they could probably convince you to give up more of your personal information for their use. Never interact with anyone claiming to be from EssayScam because this, for lack of a better word, a SCAM.

The OP's story provides yet another example of why paying a ransom is never the right response to being blackmailed. To protect yourself from any possibility of blackmail, only do business with writers who are willing to provide their real names and locations, and always confirm whatever info they provide, independently.