The FTC sued Dmitry Belkin and multiple companies accused of exploiting sextortion and romance-scam victims through deceptive websites and telemarketing. The complaint says the businesses promised to stop attacks and work with law enforcement, but instead used fear tactics, fabricated “evidence,” upsold costly “phases,” and often denied refunds.
According to an FTC lawsuit, Dmitry Belkin and a network of businesses marketed themselves as crisis responders for people facing sextortion or romance-scam attacks. The companies advertised that they could stop an ongoing attack, trace the attacker, and coordinate with law enforcement. Victims were sold a Phase 1 package costing between 1,499 and 20,000 dollars, and the complaint alleges the companies instead blocked scammers, fabricated chat transcripts, and used pre-saved geolocation coordinates to make it appear real work was being done.
The scheme relied on a scripted approach designed to exploit fear and shame. The complaint describes a call script built around alarming language, including insinuations about child exploitation and legal liability, with employees required to confirm they had used specific keywords during calls. Victims facing reputational and legal fear were less likely to pause and verify claims before paying. The scripts also discouraged victims from contacting law enforcement, framing police involvement as the last thing a victim should do, which cut off an obvious path to independent verification.
Organizations and individuals can reduce exposure to this type of fear-based extortion scam by treating urgency and fear as signals to slow down rather than speed up. Anyone encountering a crisis-response offer, whether personally or through a colleague seeking help, should independently verify the provider and favor contacting law enforcement or established legal and HR channels directly rather than relying on a vendor's claims. Security and HR teams can use this case as a training example: scripted fear tactics, discouragement of outside verification, and phased upselling are patterns that extend well beyond sextortion scams into other social engineering schemes targeting employees and executives. Building awareness of these patterns, and normalizing a pause-and-verify habit before paying for any emergency service, is a practical defense against this category of fraud.
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The FTC lawsuit alleges that Dmitry Belkin and 12 businesses sold sextortion and romance-scam protection services they did not actually provide, using deceptive marketing and telemarketing.
According to the complaint, the companies pitched an initial Phase 1 package costing between $1,499 and $20,000, then pressured customers into paying thousands more for additional Phase 2 monitoring services.
The complaint alleges the defendants told victims that law enforcement would not help and that contacting police was the last thing they wanted to do, isolating victims from legitimate support.
Be wary of any provider that discourages contacting law enforcement, uses fear-based language, or pushes expensive phased upsells, and verify the provider independently before paying.
Imagine you’re being sextorted… and the ‘rescue’ service turns out to be a scam too. The FTC says Dmitry Belkin’s companies sold ‘Phase 1’ sextortion protection for $1,499 to $20,000, promising to stop attacks and work with police… but instead just blocked accounts, faked chat logs, and used pre-saved location data as ‘proof.’ Their script leaned on fear: lines like, “I’ve seen these situations ruin people’s retirement all from the accusation of being a child predator,” and, “contacting the police is the last thing you want to do,” then pushing you into more paid “Phase 2” monitoring. Here’s the move: if anyone selling “sextortion help” tells you not to involve law enforcement or our security team, stop the call, hang up, and contact real law enforcement or security yourself.
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