Fake WebCam Software Exposed!

I was so angry today, so upset that I thought I might vomit.  For sure I was near tears as I watched the promotional video for a software package that claims to allow anyone anywhere to go into a webcam chat room using fake webcam video footage to chat with unsuspecting people on the other end of the internet.  The more I watched it the worse I felt.  How could anyone be so thoughtless as to create such a program?  Just to make money?  At the expense of others?  Greedy...well I won't say what my mind wants to say.

And what happens when the romance scammers use this software to hurt more people around the world?  I want to scream to anyone who will listen...Don't use your webcam to video chat with anyone anywhere until you absolutely know for certain that they are real and not some romance scammer sitting in some cyber cafe in West Africa or elsewhere around the world!  Yes I know that webcamming is really fun!  I know that this technology is amazing how it can bring a big wide world so much closer together.  But I also know that innocent people around the world are going into webcam chat rooms and chatting with strangers they've never met before, believing these people are just like them, real flesh and blood people not pretending to be something they are not.  Then these people are having their video chats recorded without their permission and used to create fake profiles so that the people making these fake profiles can scam hundreds of other people out of their hard earned money and break their hearts too!

Technology always comes with a price.  Learning how to use it and know the risks is imperative!  But how many using webcams today have a clue about the risks?  How many people are being scammed right now because someone was in a webcam chat room having a little fun without realizing their fun was being recorded to be used elsewhere?  The previous post here in the blog talks about the article that explains how those chat room video chats are being used.  Now comes this information about this software and how the creators of the software use models to pose with fake ID cards from each of the 50 states of the United States, and how there are buttons to push so you can control which video is used, and how the software can "read" what you are typing before you even push the send button?  It even reads it if you delete it and don't ever send it.  This way the person operating the software can be ready with the video clip that responds to what was typed.  You don't even need to be using a webcam to view the scammer's "webcam".  It's horrendous!

Well the "good news" is that the company apparently stopped selling the software to regular people and warns that anyone using the software is a scammer.  Hmmm, I wonder how they found this out???  Did they really expect that good, kind-hearted, honest people would want to use this product?  Money-grubbing greedy people creating products and don't think about the ramifications of those products getting into the wrong hands?  Well come on, how would this product get into the right hands?  They claim to sell it to law enforcement and private investigators.  Find another way than online for the world to see.  Better yet, don't do it to begin with!  (Looks like I am still angry and upset hours later.)  They also promote it to be used by "pranksters".  Come on, really???  The fact is, the product is still available online if you know where to look.  There are probably other similar products available as well.  I didn't have the heart to find out.

What do we say to the victims who come to us for help?  How do we tell them that no matter how real the video chat appeared to be, or how interactive it was, it was still fake?  It's in the whole story.  We know that.  Their gut instincts tell them that.  But it is hard enough for them to let go of the photographs.  And this software program even offers matching photos to go along with the video clips so that people can create fake profiles on dating sites and social networking sites. 

What it boils down to is simple and basic.  Don't use webcams to chat with anyone you don't really know in person, up close, face to face, unless you know for sure that this person is not a scammer.  How many people are going to listen to me if I scream it across the internet?  Webcams are so much fun.  Why stop using them?  Well don't stop using them.  Just use them wisely and safely.  Don't set yourself up to become the target of romance scammers who will record your video chats to use to hurt someone else.  And don't stop listening to your gut if you are talking to someone online and something feels "off" about the whole thing.  If you aren't sure, then don't use the webcam at all.  Get help.  We want to help the victims of these scammers and no matter which side of the camera they might be on, whether they had their chats recorded or if they are the ones watching the faked videos, they are victims of the scammers.

Does anyone remember that old movie NETWORK?  Remember when they said in it something like "I'm mad and I'm not gonna take it anymore!"?  That's how I've felt about this all day.  We can be here to help the victims heal from the devastation of the scams.  But if you read this, please, please use your webcam wisely so you don't become a victim.  If you think you might have had your chats recorded without your permission, or you think you are involved with a romance scammer in any way, please contact us at info@scamsoftheheart.org .

/cp