You may have seen this new twist to scamming recently in the
news.
You receive an email from someone claiming that they have
taken control of your computer webcam and have video of you watching pornography.
The crook wants money, and if you do not give it to him, he will distribute the
video to all your contacts.
A variation to this scam comes in the mail, claiming to know
about an extramarital affair that you are having, and you need to fork over
some money to prevent the scammer from revealing this information to your wife.
The scammers in the email version also provide a stolen
password of yours at the beginning of the email to be sure to get your
attention. The addition of the password is a new technique. The scammers
probably have purchased passwords on the dark web.
The scammers are relying on shock and fear to get you to act
quickly to pay them. While they claim to have installed malware that can see
your webcam and have access to your contacts, this may not be true. They do not
need to install malware for this scam to work.
If you receive a sexploitation email like this, take a deep
breath and consider the following:
·
Don’t
click on links or attachments. For long time readers, this should be a
given.
·
Don’t
succumb to the urgency the scammer is trying to instill in you. Giving a
sense of urgency is a technique to scare you into action.
·
Don’t re-use
passwords. This is an example that purchase of personal information such as
passwords does happen, even of the information is old, or you no longer use the
passwords. Stolen passwords could also be used to directly access and tap your
accounts. For each of your accounts you should use a unique password. To manage
all these passwords, use a password manager (see link below).
·
Don’t
respond to spam or phishing emails. Even if you would like to tell the low
life what special part of hell he should be sent to, replying only lets him
know that he has a live one and you will receive more scam emails from him and
his buddies.
·
Don’t pay
the extortionists. This only encourages them. And if they do have the goods
on you, paying does not guarantee that their threat will go away.
KING TV:
https://www.king5.com/article/money/consumer/scammers-threaten-to-release-webcam-videos-of-victims-watching-porn/283-579178362
KIRO TV:
Krebs on Security:
https://krebsonsecurity.com/2018/07/sextortion-scam-uses-recipients-hacked-passwords/
Seattle Times:
No comments:
Post a Comment