[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"$fhHmszl-usTNxVi_3dRIPddb2KsCvqWhJW0icZFcIRd0":3},{"article":4,"iocs":53,"watch_terms":54,"solutions":55,"lesson":58},{"id":5,"title":6,"slug":7,"summary":8,"ai_summary":9,"brief":10,"url":11,"image_url":12,"published_at":13,"ingested_at":14,"relevance_score":15,"entities":16,"category_id":30,"category":31,"article_tags":35},"9d9e2197-4989-4fa6-bdd7-8303ba943010","FTC says ‘sextortion’ protection companies deceived customers about services","ftc-says-sextortion-protection-companies-deceived-customers-about-services-847020","A federal lawsuit claims that Dmitry Belkin and his companies routinely failed to deliver on services to protect customers, generated fake evidence and denied refunds to victims. The post FTC says ‘sextortion’ protection companies deceived customers about services appeared first on CyberScoop.","The FTC has filed a lawsuit against Dmitry Belkin and 12 of his companies for allegedly defrauding customers out of millions of dollars by falsely advertising services to combat sextortion scams. The companies are accused of failing to deliver promised services, fabricating evidence of threat dissipation, and denying refunds to victims, while exploiting their fears through deceptive telemarketing tactics.","FTC sues sextortion protection companies for defrauding customers.","https:\u002F\u002Fcyberscoop.com\u002Fftc-lawsuit-dmitry-belkin-sextortion-fraud\u002F","https:\u002F\u002Fcyberscoop.com\u002Fwp-content\u002Fuploads\u002Fsites\u002F3\u002F2017\u002F09\u002FFTC-min.jpg","2026-10-13T19:23:48+00:00","2026-10-13T20:00:10.317496+00:00",7,[17,20,23,25,28],{"name":18,"type":19},"Dmitry Belkin","threat_actor",{"name":21,"type":22},"Digital Forensics Corp.","vendor",{"name":24,"type":22},"1st All Data Recovery and Remote Backup Corp.",{"name":26,"type":27},"BlackmailHelpline.com","product",{"name":29,"type":27},"DigitalForensics.com","c5c77cdb-f7d7-4990-9436-c81dcbff1163",{"id":30,"icon":32,"name":33,"slug":34},null,"Policy","policy",[36,41,43,48],{"category":37},{"id":38,"icon":32,"name":39,"slug":40},"2e06f76c-d5b9-4f54-9eef-4d3447b10730","Breaches","breaches",{"category":42},{"id":30,"icon":32,"name":33,"slug":34},{"category":44},{"id":45,"icon":32,"name":46,"slug":47},"d95477d7-eb04-4fad-a2dc-be1428040ce7","Privacy Fines","privacy-fines",{"category":49},{"id":50,"icon":32,"name":51,"slug":52},"e7b231c8-5f79-4465-8d38-1ef13aea5a14","Threat Intelligence","threat-intelligence",[],[21,24,26],{"controls":56,"vendors":57},[],[],{"slug":59,"title":60,"body":61,"framework_refs":62,"framework_notes":69},"fake-sextortion-protection-firms-defraud-vulnerable-victims","Fake Sextortion Protection Firms Defraud Vulnerable Victims","Fraudulent companies exploited victims of sextortion — already in a highly vulnerable emotional state — by selling non-existent or fabricated protective services. The root cause lies in a critical gap in consumer security awareness: victims were unable to distinguish legitimate cybersecurity service providers from deceptive bad actors. This matters because predatory scams targeting people facing online exploitation cause compounded harm — financial loss layered on top of existing trauma. Regulatory action by the FTC highlights how insufficient oversight of cybersecurity service vendors enables fraud to flourish at scale.",[63,64,65,66,67,68],"NIST SP 800-50 (Security Awareness Training)","FTC Act Section 5 (Unfair or Deceptive Acts or Practices)","CIS Control 14 (Security Awareness and Skills Training)","GDPR Article 5 (Data Integrity and Transparency)","NIST CSF PR.AT-1 (Awareness and Training)","ITIL Service Validation and Testing (Vendor Due Diligence)",{}]