Did you receive an email recently where someone is claiming to have access of your machine and have “indecent” video proof of yours ?. The chances are it is a sextortion scam email and you shouldn’t be worried. It’s a more direct approach to simply get money from you, unlike Phishing Attacks where they actually try to gain access of your system. Continue reading if you want to learn more about the scam.
What is a Sextortion Email ?
You may receive an email which is something similar to:
Or it can be drafted like …
I was planning to say hello, LeRay, but now I think greetings are unnecessary.
Firstly, I already know you and all your loved ones very well.
Secondly, the occasion for which I'm writing to you is not the happiest one for a friendly greeting.
You've heard that the Internet is a dangerous place, infested with malicious links and hackers like me? Of course, you've heard, but what's the point in it if you are so dismissive of your internet security and don't care what websites you visit?
Times have changed. You read about AI, judging by your browser history, and still didn't understand anything?
Technologies have stepped far forward, and now hackers like me use artificial intelligence.
Thanks to it, I can get not only access to your webcam and record your fun with highly controversial video
(I recorded it also, but now that's not the point), but also to all your devices and not only yours.
And I saved a special sauce for this dish. I went further and sent malicious links to all your contacts from your account.
Yes, someone was smarter and realized that this was a trap and you were hacked, but believe me,
about 70% of your contact list (and these are your friends, colleagues, and family) bought into my scam.
They have as many skeletons in their closet as you do. Some turn out to be hidden homosexuals...
I have accumulated and analyzed a huge amount of compromising data on you and those with whom you communicate.
Very soon I'll start a crossfire - everyone will receive the full history of correspondence
(and there are enough of "sensitive moments") and recordings from the other contact's webcam.
I can go further and put all these files, as well as the recorded fun of you and your hacked contacts with "hardcore videos" into the public domain.
You can imagine, it will be a real sensation!
And everyone will understand where it came from - from you.
For all your contacts and, you will be enemy number one. Even your relatives will take a long time to forgive you and forget such a family shame...
It will be the real end of the world. The only difference is that there will be not four horsemen of the apocalypse, but only one - (=
But there is no such thing as a completely black stripe without any white dots.
Luckily for you, in my case the "Three M Rule" comes into play - Money, Money and Money again.
I'm not interested in your worthless life, I'm interested in people from whom I can profit.
And today you are one of them.
That's why: Transfer $1190 in Bitcoin to: 18bGv3kKTbj6AYfuoFivNFv99WdaxqXd6U ...within 48 hours!
You don't know how to use cryptocurrencies? Use Google, everything is simple.
Once payment is received, I will delete all information associated with you and you will never hear from me again.
Remember one thing: my crypto address is anonymous, and I generated this letter in your mailbox and sent it to you.
You can call the cops, do whatever you want - they won't find me, my demands won't change, but you'll just waste precious time.
The clock is ticking. Tick tock, a minute out of 48 hours has passed right now. An hour will soon pass, and in two days your old life will pass forever.
Either goodbye forever (if I get my payment), or hello to a brave new world in which there will be no place for you.
One form of messaging uses “bad online behavior” themes that relate to adult behavior online – such as visiting porn websites. This is commonly referred to as “sextortion” scam. The main purpose of the message is to establish fear in the victim that someone has been monitoring their online activities that many find “humiliating” or “embarrassing”.
The extorter often wants the victim to believe that the attacker has captured video and photos of the victim engaged in a sexual act that they likely would not want anybody to know about. The scammer then blackmails the victim by threatening to expose the photos and video publicly through social media or by sending them directly to the victim’s friends, family or coworkers. To stop that from happening, the victim has to pay money.
In these sextortion scams, the scammers carefully provided steps on how to pay them using Bitcoin. The scammers pressure the victim to act within a period of time – 2 days in the examples above. Scammers use this tactic to get their victims to pay fast – before they have time to think things through or get any help.
The scammers also use mental torture on the victim, suggesting thoughts of humiliation and embarrassment if the victim will not comply. An example phrase would be “damage and hell it can bring into your life.” Such phrases are used to make the victim feel downhearted and make them think that there is no other way but to pay.
How to deal with Sextortion Scams ?
Delete the Email and move on … However, upon investigating the cryptocurrency wallets used in these scams, it appears that cybercriminals have received some payments. This may explain why sextortion scams continue to operate, and it also tells us that spam email messages still work in tricking consumers. And if it is effective for gaining money, cybercriminals will continue to use it.
What to do if threatened with sextortion?
In general, when you get a message that causes you fear and panic, here’s what you should do.
- Wait until you are calm enough to think things through and make educated decisions, so you won’t act under panic.
- Get help and advice from someone – Asking from a community is good option.
- The attackers will only benefit if you pay them. Don’t do that. Paying only encourages them to continue their operations, and most likely they are just bluffing.
Please go through Intro Guide and do not deal with random people online. All details are gathered through Open source data and reports shared by various members in CCP.
If you know of a scammer, please share the details with us so that we may publish it online, this way such scammers can be easily caught.