This company is taking advantage of sextortion victims, some customers say

The 44-year-old man was caught in a shakedown. Smack in the middle of the pharmacy.

He already bought four $250 eBay gift cards, but his scammer demanded more. He walked back to CVS to purchase four more, bringing his total to $2,000.

The blackmailer was waiting. If the man didn't pay up, the scammer, known as a sextortionist, promised to release his nude images to his family, friends and government job.

But each time he paid, the predator, who had pretended to be someone else on a dating app, increased the ransom.

Desperate for a way out, he was relieved when a Google search brought him to the site of Digital Forensics Corporation (DFC). The Ohio-based company said they could try to get the explicit photos deleted, but it would cost $3,000. He says they asked for half the money up front via credit card and that he send a physical check for the rest. It seemed strange to him, but he complied.  

If his experience reads like it's full of red flags, he says he knows. He sees them now. But in the moment, he was so distressed he overlooked his reservations about DFC.

Financial sextortion is the fastest-growing cybercrime targeting children and young men in North America, and DFC is among the best-known for-profit players trying to help victims. But a USA TODAY investigation, based on business filings, lawsuits, internal company documents and more than 100 complaints to state regulators and the Better Business Bureau, shows a pattern of customers claiming they received inflated promises and high prices.

The company rejects that, saying it has received thousands of positive reviews. However, some former clients say the company underdelivers and uses scare tactics and manipulation to garner clients, the investigation found.

USA TODAY interviewed nearly three dozen customers and reviewed 11 contracts outlining the services. Three former and three current employees from the company provided information for this report.

Among the allegations:

• DFC aggressively markets their service to recoup sensitive personal information online taken by sextortionists, but then in contracts insists that it makes “no guarantee of outcome or results.”
• DFC uses an escalating sales pitch known as “Phase I,” and “Phase II” that works as a hook to get customers to buy more services.
• The company charges thousands of dollars even in cases when it can't stop blackmailers from contacting customers. It offers monthly installment financing that can span six years and charge up to 18% interest.
• If customers miss payments, DFC has an in-house collections department that in one instance called a customer 35 times in four months after he had already declared bankruptcy.
• The company anticipates complaints from consumers – discouraging them from posting negative reviews, writing warnings into their contracts and goes so far as to threaten legal action for “defamatory, confidential, or misleading reviews.”

Jeromy Simonovic, in-house counsel for DFC, says the company works diligently to address consumer complaints. He says that a majority of the 1,000 customers per month signing up for their service leave satisfied and that those who don't come to them already emotionally harmed by scammers.

In a statement, Simonovic said DFC’s customer agreement “reflects transparency and honesty in stating that we cannot guarantee outcomes for online investigations because there are factors outside DFC’s control. That is to say, DFC engages with a blackmailer with unknown motives and unpredictable habits. Please keep in mind that identifying cyber criminals in third world countries is not a perfect science.”

Simonovic defended the role of sales staffers telling horror stories to potential customers and says blackmailers are beginning to fear the Ohio-based company.

"We find ourselves more in an explanatory situation where we’re emphasizing the consequences these sextortion scams can present," Simonovic says. "We’ve identified and found blackmailers and we rely on our track record. We’re transparent about the harm we’ve seen."

In April 2023, the FBI warned against the use of for-profit companies offering sextortion victims "assistance" services, which often come at exorbitant fees. The FBI did not name any company, but instead encouraged victims to work with law enforcement and nonprofit agencies who will provide assistance for free.

“We do not work with any of these for-profit companies," says Mike Prado, of the Department of Homeland Security's Cyber Crimes Center. "We do not coordinate with them, we do not endorse them, and we strongly urge victims to not cooperate with them or seek them out.”

Simonovic provided internal feedback from more than 2,700 customers since January 2024 he says were pleased with the service and provided contact information for 51 of them. 

USA TODAY contacted each of those customers who ranged from students to retirees and janitors to grocery store baggers nationwide. Many say they found relief with DFC but acknowledged it came with hefty price tags. A Canadian father says he spent $20,000 on the service. 

Nearly all the customers said they purchased DFC's additional monitoring service, but few said that the company obtained proof that stolen content had been deleted. 

A business owner in Indiana said he found dozens of negative reviews for DFC, but went ahead with their services in addition to reporting his sextortion situation to the FBI and local police, who didn't promptly provide any relief.

He paid his scammer $1,000 in an attempt to prevent hacked company emails and false allegations of pedophilia from spilling into the public. When the scammer demanded more he turned to DFC's full suite of monitoring for $10,000.

"I get all the criticism and I tried to be an educated consumer, but where else do you go?" the 55-year-old man says. "I can stop responding and hope they go away, or I can gamble with this company. Whether it’s all BS or not the company stayed in contact with me and at the end of the day the bad actor has gone away."

Another client, 70, says he wasn’t aware there are free services available from law enforcement and nonprofit groups for sextortion help that may be as effective. “If I knew about it, I probably would have done that before Digital Forensics Corporation, but I asked DFC if I should go to the police and they said, ‘don't worry, you'll be taken care of,'" he says.

In response to claims clients are dissuaded from contacting the FBI or police, DFC told USA TODAY their company never informs clients to avoid contacting the police or law enforcement.

"It's contrary to DFC policy," Simonovic wrote in an email.

Internal documents show methods for high-pressure sales tactics

Sextortion victims who spoke with USA TODAY say they called DFC’s sextortion helpline in heightened emotional states seeking help. But they say the term “helpline” is misleading. A call script and other internal documents obtained by USA TODAY outlined how DFC quickly guides the conversation toward their sales pitch.

When one Georgia-based victim called DFC for sextortion help, he was suicidal and unable to sleep or eat.

“I was shaking the whole time on the call,” says another Virginia-based victim who was 19 when he was sextorted. “All that was on my mind was getting this scammer off of me.”

DFC reassured him they could help, but the victim says not before scaring him that his predators might create a website revealing his explicit nude content. 

"If you aren't in contact with the suspect we would not be able to help, it's vital to respond to them if possible so that we can perform the investigation," a DFC salesperson told the man, who was 19 at the time, quoting from a DFC call script. "If they think you are ignoring them they could start releasing your information to get your attention. Can you get back in contact with the suspect?"  

In order to track down where a blackmailer is located, DFC uses a client's social media logins and messages the blackmailer on the client's behalf. The company entices the criminal to click on a tracking link, which provides information about their location. DFC then creates a letter threatening the perpetrator to end their attack. Packages are offered on a sliding scale that starts at $1,499.

DFC’s Simonovic says the company’s pricing is transparent and that whether to proceed is up to the individual. “DFC’s strategies and mechanisms are provided to clients, who may or may not elect to proceed with services,” he said in a statement.

Attorneys for DFC also characterized the scripts provided to USA TODAY as "stolen" and warned that they had "not been verified or authenticated by DFC."

The script instructs the salesperson to ask questions about the victim’s relationship and employment status and involvement in activities and professional groups, information that ex-clients say scared them by suggesting they could lose retirement funds or suffer a divorce.

“Ask more probing questions based on what client has already told you, especially if they give you info that their marriage might be on the rocks, if infidelity has been an issue before, or if they have young kids that would mean a custody battle,” the internal call script advises.

One 28-year-old man in Ohio says DFC told him if he didn’t use their service, his blackmailer would release everything. He made a $400 down payment that same night.

The 44-year-old was supposed to receive his results within 24 hours, but DFC didn’t send the password to access the file, insisting that a company representative needed to discuss the findings on the phone – a tactic other customers say they encountered, too. DFC utilized the phone call, they say, as a sales pitch, recommending these clients upgrade from their "Phase I" to "Phase II" plan, which provides surveillance of the victim’s accounts to prevent leaks.

Per the script, the company representative is advised to tell clients that their passwords and everything stored on their account is likely for sale on the dark web – and that the criminals might also sell stolen credit card info or Social Security numbers.

In other instances, former clients say DFC told them that criminals are known to photoshop underage girls next to the naked images or that previous clients who declined upgrading to a Phase II plan had their explicit content released by their sextortionist a year later.

DFC says it “feels obligated to inform client of potential possible outcomes and how their sensitive data may be used to pressure them into paying perpetrators."

Other internal documents focused on damage control.

A script outlines what to do if a client mentions BBB reviews and advises the salesperson to tell clients: “When we do a real investigation and give them an honest report that tells them they are wrong they react emotionally and they sometimes get mad and take it out on us." It advises the salesperson to direct clients to other review sites like TrustPilot.com and ResellerRatings.com.

A trail of complaints

Ohio’s Better Business Bureau issued two warning alerts on its website about Digital Forensics, which it says is not BBB accredited. The nonprofit consumer protection group says in the past, DFC has requested consumers remove their reviews as a condition of resolving their complaints with refunds. A new Federal Trade Commission rule that began in October 2024 now prohibits that practice.  

In addition, BBB says it has been unable to authenticate many positive and negative reviews left on its site about the business and has removed them.

BBB has fielded 92 complaints about their services in the past three years. The organization claims the company routinely misrepresents the type of evidence, email and photos that would be provided when consumers paid additional money for “Phase II” reporting.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children also received more than two dozen reports related to DFC through their CyberTipline.

In 2023, the largest online sextortion support forum, r/sextortion on Reddit, blacklisted DFC and banned any recommendations of DFC after the moderator said that they were using "predatory sales tactics" when talking with victims from the subreddit. DFC questioned whether Reddit posters had actually used its services and said the forum refused to allow it a chance to rebut criticisms. DFC says its positive ratings from clients and employees outweigh the negative across multiple rating sites.

In a 2021 YouTube video, DFC touts an appearance on the "Dr. Phil" television show as evidence of its expertise. But subsequent videos show DFC has recycled its "Dr. Phil" appearance in marketing materials and edited the clip to swap out an ex-DFC staff member with a new one. Representatives for "Dr. Phil" did not respond to requests for comment.

Trying to do the impossible

DFC claims it will try to get proof its clients' nude images are completely deleted, a task that cybersecurity experts say is nearly impossible without access to the scammer's physical device. Those who purport to be able to do more are overpromising their services, experts say.

Victims of fraud and blackmail face few good options, says John Breyault, vice president of the National Consumers League, who expressed concern about Digital Forensics’ tactics.

"There is no silver bullet out there to get images taken down from the entire Internet," Breyault says.

DFC's advice for scam victims often runs counter to best practices preached by experts. For example, the company recommends victims get back in touch with their scammer in order for DFC to send a tracking link.

“If they think you are ignoring them they could start releasing your information to get your attention,” one line in the DFC sales script reads. “This will piss them off and they will release the pictures/videos.”

DFC responded that "in some cases that blocking cyber criminal blackmailer only infuriates and entices them to post the Client's private data because it means they will not be getting paid akin to 'what is left to lose' mindset."

It defended the use of tracking links, but said "there are many other proprietary methods that can reveal the exact geo location and true identity of (the) perpetrator, as well as provide proof of deletion of our client's private and privileged information."

Sextortion victims who spoke to USA TODAY also said DFC told them law enforcement is overwhelmed and dissuaded victims from taking their cases to police, contrary to the FBI's protocol.

Cybersecurity experts say blocking and ignoring scammers is the best thing to do – and that getting back in touch pretending to send money could anger them. Furthermore, DFC’s tactics to send predators cease and desist orders may momentarily alleviate victims’ anxiety, but they aren’t legally enforceable, according to the FBI.

Instead, underage victims can use the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s free service, Take It Down, to get private content removed from social media. If victims are over 18, they can go to StopNCII.org, which is also free. DFC says it does not provide services for minor victims unless their parents are working with the company and refers other minors to the police and NCMEC.

The 44-year-old who signed the $3,000 Phase I DFC contract says he filed a complaint to his state's attorney general office, who wrote back to set up a call. But he decided he didn't want to go through the emotional turmoil of talking about his sextortion again, and dropped the complaint. He feels shame both over his sextortion experience and the thousands he paid DFC.

“If these (nude photos) get out, not only are there some embarrassing things about your sex life that you don't really want being shared with relatives and colleagues, but also do you want it getting out that you were stupid and fell for this?” 

This article is part of an ongoing USA TODAY series investigating a surge in financial sextortion and its mental health impact on teenage boys. Thefirst article in the series discussed online terminology that should raise red flags to teens and parents, and another focused on suicides of teenage boys who were sextorted.Click here for advice on what to do if you or your teen is sextorted.

If you'd like to share your experience with sextortion, cybercriminals or recovery assistance services, please contact ushere.

Rachel Hale’s role covering youth mental health at USA TODAY is funded by a grant from Pivotal Ventures. Pivotal Ventures does not provide editorial input. Reach her at rhale@usatoday.com and @rachelleighhale on X.

Nick Penzenstadler is a reporter on the USA TODAY investigations team. Contact him at npenz@usatoday.com or @npenzenstadler, or on Signal at (720) 507-5273.