GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – Better Business Bureau is warning the public about sextortion emails from scammers trying to threaten recipients into giving them money.
Sextortion emails typically include threats to reveal images and videos of the victim watching or utilizing pornography, copies of their browser history or evidence that they downloaded videos from pornographic sites.
The scammer will contact people whether or not they visited pornographic sites and claim they have hacked their computer and activated their webcam.
“They say hello and then use a password of the victim in place of the person’s name.
Susan Bach of the BBB says that can convince the victim that the scammer really does have something on them. She says the BBB believes that the passwords would have been obtained from a prior data breech.
The scammer will share that they have been able to access all the porn sites the victim has visited. The scammer then threatens to send embarrassing images, videos and screenshots to stolen contacts, family, friends and co-workers if a payment is not made.
Bach says more often than not, the request is to send money through bitcoin.
“They claim that they are going to start emailing all of their contacts with this information. That can be devastating for people.”
The blackmail message usually fails to include personal information or any other details that hackers could use to increase their credibility.
A recent victim shared in his Scam Tracker report that “a scammer obtained my password and demanded to be paid almost $1,700 in bitcoin, otherwise, he would send porno pictures of me to my friends”.
Bach says people can also protect themselves by turning off their webcam.
“Or just put a piece of tape or post-it note over the camera so that it cannot record any images.”
She says another important thing to remember is to ignore and delete the emails.
The BBB recently received a complaint about sextortion in Madison.Red flags:
- The scammer does not provide any details about what site you supposedly visited.
- The scammer cannot support their threat with any evidence, for example, a compromising screenshot to prove they have the information they claim.
- The scammer requests an urgent ransom be paid in gift cards, bitcoins or wire transfer.
Protect Yourself:
- Never send compromising images of yourself to anyone, no matter who they are—or who they say they are.
- Try searching the web for one or two sentences from the email to confirm it is actually spam.
- No matter what the email threatens, do not respond. Also delete the email.
- Do not open attachments or click links in emails from people you do not know. Doing so could lead you to a fake website designed to trick you into giving up personal information or you may download malware to your computer or mobile device.
- Never send money, buy a gift card or do anything to comply with the demands in the email.
- Do a security check on your computer and install security software.
- Enable two-factor authentication on your important accounts.
- Change passwords often and consider getting a password manager to ensure your passwords are strong and unique.
