I was a victim of SEXTORTION

An hour or two of reading could save you from a lifetime of suffering

Believe me, you don't want this to happen to you. You might not be using a dating app, as I was, but any form of social media is fair game. This includes Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn - and the like. I'll share with you how I picked up, in real-time, how an unsuspecting professor on LinkedIn found himself at grave risk of being snared by the same gang that caught me.

I made all of the mistakes, and broke new ground, so that you don't have to.

Unexpectedly, once I was finally over the worst of it - and thanks to my friend Santie's insistence that I not waste a good crisis - I was able to use this experience as the unlikely catalyst for my own life-makeover, and for inspiring others to overhaul their lives too, whether or not they'd been snagged by an online terror gang.

I'm as savvy as anyone I know, and yet, within moments, I'd found myself in a lot of trouble. Not only had I put my own life on the line, but the lives of friends and family too. It was not a good situation to be in. I'd had no idea that my own ignorance - and, yes, sheer stupidity - would turn my life on its proverbial head within just a few short seconds. Looking back, I admit to having felt that something was amiss, but it had been exciting enough to ignore the warning signs.

Once you've launched something into cyberspace, it's there forever. You can't take it back. I knew this, but I was having fun. Life was good.

Within moments, my life had been reduced to a horror movie. It took me a while to work out exactly what I was looking at; I recognised my name, my work website and my friends and family, but everything else was the stuff of nightmares - and it simply didn't add up. How did that information and those images find their way into this WhatsApp conversation? Thereafter it didn't take long to work out that I'd been snagged by an online terror gang.

I'd never even heard of the term SEXTORTION, but I very quickly became an expert on the topic. I didn't like what my research unearthed. It turns out that there are thousands of innocent people, all over the world, who are being reeled in by these terrible people every single day. Like me, they're very quickly terrorised into handing over tons of money. But that only invigorates these excuses for human beings into ratcheting up their ghastly threats, in an effort to extort more money.

The worst part of all, is the fallout. The experience leaves people broken and traumatised. Teens and those who are more vulnerable, are even at risk of committing suicide. It's an awful scenario, and it's on the up.

I say it again, that an hour or two of reading could save you from a lifetime of suffering...