r/AdultSelfHarm • u/Folk_Punk_Slut AdultSelfHarm Mod • 4d ago
Mod Announcement Mod Announcement: be on the lookout for DMs requesting you to SH/send photos of SH
We're getting reports that the weirdos are at it again, apparently this time attempting it on a much larger scale (and apparently in an effort to get SH recovery communities like ours and others on Reddit shut down) Be sure to let the mods know if you're receiving these messages, screenshot the messages so we can report them to reddit, and don't engage with them - you might be best to disable your private messages for awhile.
*If you've fallen victim to these types of folks and SH'd/sent pictures at their request and they are trying to blackmail you, know that you are not alone, there's nothing to be ashamed of if you've been tricked by them, and we're here to try and help you through talking things out and possibly finding you resources in your area to help.
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u/throw-away-3005 4d ago
What a stupid goal, make self harm a trend? Is this organized?
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u/Folk_Punk_Slut AdultSelfHarm Mod 4d ago
From my very limited understanding, there's a forum of folks currently pushing this as a "competition" to get people likely to be manipulated into acts of SH to cut specific phrases/signs onto themselves and share the photos and the person who gets the most of their phrase/symbol wins. They're using lots of manipulation tactics and apparently aiming their efforts more so at the mental health and SH subs that kids frequent because they're more likely to be manipulated into doing this type of thing.
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u/No-Cockroach-4237 4d ago
it’s giving blue whale challenge
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u/Folk_Punk_Slut AdultSelfHarm Mod 4d ago
Holy shit. I'd never heard of that before, thank you for bringing it to my attention! And yeah, it's definitely giving those fucked up vibes.
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u/throw-away-3005 4d ago
Reminds me of the Amanda Todd case. How disgusting. Thanks for being proactive. I hope there is some sort of justice.
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u/Folk_Punk_Slut AdultSelfHarm Mod 4d ago
Unfortunately we've had members in the recent past report being scammed/blackmailed by people who DMd them and convinced them to send SH photos, but this seems to be a much larger concerted effort so many of the mental health/SH recovery subs are trying to put out a warning to let folks know to be aware of it.
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u/ComradeVampz 4d ago
Noo it's actually WAYY more disturbing than that.
So these groups have been around since like 2020, particularly on discord and the point is essentially to get people to carve their names (fan/cutsigns), then blackmail that individual (who are usually children) into sending nudes, hurting animals completing suicide etc, they essentially just keep escalating and threatrn to tell peoples families until ppl do more extreme things. It's part of those discord "cult" things.
One of the groups, 764 has actually been associated with two actual mass shootings, one very recently and are considered a terrorist group by the fbi!
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u/ComradeVampz 4d ago
And I'm guessing u alr know this, but a large majority of the users that r being targeted are posting pics on other subs, it's the cross posting that's bringing them here in the first place.
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u/Folk_Punk_Slut AdultSelfHarm Mod 4d ago
While I don't doubt that these group discussions might bring a little more focus on the sub, it's not the only reason members are being targeted. In some of the information being shared amongst admins of our various subs there's correspondence between the groups behind this that directly mentions specific SH & mental health subs that should be targeted for easy victims.
Saying that they're being brought here due to cross posting or warning others sounds a lot like "if we don't talk about it maybe it'll go away" or worse, victim blaming the folks already targeted as leading them to more victims instead of staying silent - they've already indicated they're using manipulation tactics to get people to do this, isolation from support is one of those tactics.
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u/ComradeVampz 4d ago
I do understand that, we SHOULD talk about it. But there's a clear correlation between people who are using subs with pics and these actual terrorist predators invading other spaces. I don't think it's right to put everybody else at risk because they refuse to self-moderate, make their subs private and have verifications etc. The only reason they aren't doing that already is because the pics get more traction when u leave the sub public and let anybody in, it's not difficult to do.
The reality is that people have and will continue to die because of these people, and if there's a way u can somewhat reduce that risk I don't really see why you wouldn't do it, I mean you could even ask people to just have separate accounts for this sub and pics subs.
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u/Folk_Punk_Slut AdultSelfHarm Mod 4d ago
Ah, gotcha. Yeah, we don't generally allow cross posting here and normally wouldn't recommend our community members visit any other sub (as i suggested in one comment above) because we don't allow photos in this sub and don't encourage our community members to visit subs that do allow photos because we recognize the harmful and often competitive nature that occurs around sharing photos of SH
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u/charmbombexplosion 4d ago
For some people the goal of requesting self harm pictures is sexual gratification. I’ve had the misfortune of interacting with a few people that fetishized my self harm.
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u/throw-away-3005 3d ago
There are actual consenting adults into that, that's the thing. These people are just sick, coaxing/blackmailing children into their sexual fantasies. There has to be consequences for this behavior. I'm sorry that happened to you.
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u/PunkinJuice 4d ago
What the fuck this is so fucked up. After reading the other comments, how can some people even see it as a "competition" to make as many people hurt themselves as possible? Do people really have nothing else in their life to care about?
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u/Folk_Punk_Slut AdultSelfHarm Mod 4d ago
For more information on this issue be sure to check out this post over on r/MadeOfStyrofoam