Victoria's Secret Product Testing Scam?

[condoinmanhattan2]

Hi I need help & I'm very scared. I'm in a facebook page for my sorority and there was a post in there about product testing for Victoria's Secret and the girl said that her cousin had done this and they were looking for new people to test out products. There was a google doc to fill out, and then at the end there was an email to get in contact with to "continue your application" on google hangouts. After you emailed a picture of yourself to this email, they sent a long paragraph about the "at home sizing app" they are creating, but because the app isn't ready yet, they are going to launch a version in google hangouts to get your "accurate sizing for product testing". they will ask you to wear tight fitting clothing and say your name, age, height & weight. then they launch a FaceTime like call with no one on the other side, and they communicate with you through the chat feature. once you're on camera, they will tell you to turn to the side, front etc and then will ask you to change into a bra and underwear and say/ do the same things. after this, they ask you to speak about what you love most about your body and any situations where you have felt harassed or violated by men. after this, they'll ask you if you want to continue with the sizing process (or whatever they called it) and then will ask you to remove your bra. as soon s this happened, I knew this was not right and I asked them to verify if they were really from Victoria's Secret, and then they said they would send me a confirmation email about it and they never did. While I was not naked in this, I am still very worried about what it being done with this footage of me and I am afraid that it could affect future jobs. has anyone else has an experience like this or knows what I should do? I've already been in contact with the police and sexual assault hotline, but I feel very violated and I don't know what to do

[topur]

I very much agree with @sawno and @jlincoln
In short : consider it to be public, maybe in some website in a dark corner of the internet that you'll never find. Be glad you didn't get naked, it's nothing that you don't show at the beach. Don't reply to any attempts of blackmail and report them to the police. Learn from this occasion and how important your body really is to you, but don't beat yourself up too much, don't go into depression.

Finally, I can understand how you feel afraid and violated. Yes, you made a mistake, but are not the one who intentionally hurt other. You're the victim and they are the perpetrators, don't believe otherwise. Still, this might probably just go away. Stay strong specially in the first days and don't give in to sadness. I hope you can start feeling better in no time :)

[condoinmanhattan2]

thank you so much. I just keep reminding myself that it's nothing I don't show in a swimsuit, but still the thought of it makes me sick and I just want this to go away. I'm trying not to beat myself up, but I'm just so scared of this coming back to bite me in the future

[Twalli]

Since you were never naked it shouldn't affect your job prospects if it appears online. In the future get proof first. There is an easy way. Call the nearest VS and ask if they are aware of anything like that or if they can give you a number to check if it's true.

[Taylor_C]

Just recognize you've been a fool, and you need to improve on not being so gullible. More than anything, you're a victim of your own naivety and stupidity. Try and learn something from it and move on with your life.

[condoinmanhattan2]

yes I recognize that and I have learned from this and I'm sharing this because I want to make other people aware of this scam. do you maybe have any information that could help me out?

[Taylor_C]

The scammers run little risk of getting caught. Don't dwell on it.

[sawno]

Likely blackmail, typically in an attempt to get you nude more often. Ignore any demands or attempts and it will generally die down. Consider the footage public.

[sawno]

The fact you did not go fully nude might also help in them not actually going trough with anything.

[condoinmanhattan2]

that's what the police said too. they blocked me as soon as I called them out but I'm scared that footage will come back to haunt me later in life

[sawno]

It likely won't haunt you long term. Especially since you did not go fully naked. And even if it does people tend to be understanding. People can understand you where tricked into it and did not do anything perverted, so i would not worry about it at all. These guys are usually not the most clever and just want nudes from young girls. They will obviously threaten and pressure the victims if they can with a "If you don't do it again we will send it to your friends and your whole school will know" sort of deal. But you where never fully nude and called their bluff so they already backed off. Even if they kept the footage given you where never exposed means it won't be worse than anyone taking a bikini picture from you at the pool. They are perverts for trying, but you aren't a pervert for initially being fooled by the premise. Happens to a lot of people and those around you will be far more understanding than you might know. The only potential here is if your prepared to give into demands to get them to keep it to themselves. So never give into anything and like i said consider it public. If they never show up anywhere that is nice (And they likely won't) but if they do don't ever try to change it and just explain it was an abuser who took it without permission by lying to you. Any bad consequences should then subside.

[condoinmanhattan2]

yes you're right, thank you! I was also looking into the diagnostics of the chat and I don't know how to read coding or anything, but it almost looked like it was somehow live-streamed to lots of other people. I hope I'm wrong because this is absolutely disgusting and I feel very shaken up and scared right now

[sawno]

A hangouts call will go trough the server of google, what happens behind their server you will not be able to see. You will know who is in the room with you but the footage they record or stream you can't know. If it does show up report it given its illegal content and it will likely get taken down.

[condoinmanhattan2]

I've reported and blocked the user. Should I delete the email I used? It's kinda hard for me to because I'm a youtuber and I run my business with that email and I can't exactly take me channel down

[sawno]

Actually you could do the contrary, do you have the e-mail that they send you? It might expose who is behind it and be very valuable.

[sawno]

Or actually nevermind, that would likely expose you and the chances are large they used a public mailing service and we learn nothing from it. They could technically be trapped into revealing their IP address though if someone sends them a specially crafted e-mail link that logs IP's.

[condoinmanhattan2]

yes I do, but I tried to get in contact with them with another email just out of curiosity and it appears to be nonexistent. maybe they're scared I caught them?

[sawno]

But no, no need to delete the e-mail you should be fine.

[ThatGuy133]

Sounds like a scam. I’ve never heard of a legit business utilizing google hangouts like this.

it sounds like the creepy stuff they do in those casting couch porn videos.

[condoinmanhattan2]

what's a casting couch porn video I literally know nothing about any of that

[ThatGuy133]

Google is your friend. You’ll see what I mean

[jlincoln50]

My opinion is it was a scammer trying to get pics of u so they can use them to get people online n make money. I've had a lot of experience with scammers online. There's a lot of scammers out there using pics of people online for their money sceems.

[condoinmanhattan2]

is there a way I can find these pictures? I've set up a google alert for my name but that's all I know to do

[Anonymous]

ur 19? im more scared of how naive you are for your age to believe that dumb shit

[condoinmanhattan2]

the only reason I believed it was because I had done marketing work with Victoria's Secret in the past, and a girl in my private sorority facebook page posted it. I would not have believed it otherwise

[bangyourhead]

Oh man. Likely they won’t do anything with the footage. You learned a life lesson.

[Avicenna]

It's a scam all right

[Plitty-Tank]

Most products on the market are scams.