Well, friends, I had a very scary experience the other day, and I wanted to share just in case anyone else has anything similar happen.

As many of you know, I write books. Some of my work is in the University Library System at UAB, so occasionally I do hear from a student. Well, I was contacted by someone saying they were a UAB student, and they wanted to chat with me briefly. Naturally, I assumed this was nothing sinister.

I was wrong.

I opened google hangout, and found a nice looking woman on the small screen. What I didn't realize was that the invite I'd gotten also opened my camera - after just a few seconds of me waiting for her to say something, or type something, I was sent a video - a video with 'my image' from the chat, added in to someone else (who was doing naughty things on camera that should not be done on camera).

Before I could ask, "What the hell??" the person (now I'm not sure who they really were) says, 'for $1500, this video doesn't have to be sent to your friends and family, or go online'.

My response was that I hadn't done anything; that wasn't me in the video. Their answer was chilling.

"It doesn't have to be real to ruin your life".

Long and short of the story was, I was stupid and trusting, and these scammers are very good at what they do. I did not send any money, but I have had to deactivate all my social media for a few weeks at least (aside from here - I feel safe here). But it was very stressful, and very frightening.

I am usually smarter than that. Now, I plan on painting over the front facing camera. And unless it's in person, I'm not accepting chat invites from people I don't know - even if it sounds like it could be legit.

Everyone - be careful. It's my understanding that, while it s mostly men being targeted with this kind of scam, that women have fallen victim as well. One person whose testimony I read said that they were gotten for over $8k. And yes, a few people have had the videos put online.

So - be careful, my friends. After all this, I think I need a drink.

-Derek