FTC alleges Digital Forensics Corp took $60M from sextortion victims for 'help' it didn't provide

What happened

According to a Federal Trade Commission complaint reported by The Record on October 13, 2026, Ohio-based Digital Forensics Corporation (DFC), its owner and affiliated companies collected at least $60 million from people facing sextortion threats, from February 2023 through July 2026, for help the FTC says DFC did not provide.

A federal court has temporarily ordered the company to stop doing business while the case proceeds. These are allegations in a civil lawsuit; no court has found that DFC broke the law, and DFC did not respond to The Record's request for comment.

How the scam works

The FTC alleges DFC marketed itself on search, video and social media platforms to people being threatened with the release of intimate images. It charged $1,499 to $20,000 for "Phase 1" services it said would stop the attack, locate the sextortionist, produce an investigative report, notify law enforcement and send a cease-and-desist letter.

Instead, the complaint alleges, DFC routinely changed victims' account settings to block the sextortionist, fabricated chat transcripts, and reused pre-saved location coordinates, typically for Nigeria and the Philippines. Staff allegedly told victims law enforcement would not help and that blocking the sextortionist, as the FBI recommends, was "the last thing you want to do".

The FTC also alleges every customer was pressured to buy costlier "Phase 2" monitoring, that refunds were often refused, and that the company used fake reviews and pointed unhappy customers to fake Better Business Bureau sites.

Source

The Record, "FTC: Company netted at least $60 million charging sextortion victims for help it didn't provide" (October 13, 2026).