According to a recent study, people are more likely to respond to threatening email extortion scam messages than to those that promise rewards which explains the growth of email extortion scams.
These are email that threaten to publicize compromising information about you whether it’s true or not unless you make a quick payment.
Extortion scammers have a unique tactic that they use. In their message, they say that they know a password you’ve used one of your online accounts. They then go one to claim that they’ve implanted malware on your computer that let them capture your keystrokes, watch through your webcam and gather evidence that you have visited adult websites.
They then go on to say they’ll share that information with all your email and social media contacts along with video of you enjoying your viewing. They then demand you pay hush money, typically several hundred dollars in the form of Bitcoin.
Don’t panic. There’s little chance this cyber-blackmailer has really taken control of your computer.
Usually, extortion scammers send out threats indiscriminately. They acquire a large number of email addresses and associated passwords that they likely obtained on the dark web (Think, black market) after big corporate data breaches.
They hope to stumble across a few people who don’t change their passwords regularly or do have some secret they don’t want known.
Keep in mind, there have been actual cases of hackers gaining access to someone’s webcam, and this gives the scam a modicum of plausibility. To add some spice to the scam, some scammers tinker with their email messages, making the “From” section show your actual email address to create the illusion that they have control of your account.
The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) documented 51,146 cases of online extortion in 2018, with victims suffering losses of $83.4 million. The pornography scenario, termed “sextortion,” accounted for the majority of extortion complaints
Warning Signs
- The email includes a password you use online or one you used in the past.
- The message seems generic and doesn’t cite any specific websites the sender claims you visited.
- The threat is poorly worded and includes grammatical errors.
- You are given a short deadline to respond, typically a day or two — a classic high-pressure scam tactic.
Never
- Never reply to an extortionist’s email.
- Never pay up in hopes that the blackmailer will go away. They will just ask for more money.
- Never keep using the password the scammer mentioned in the email. Change it immediately.
- Never use the same password for multiple sites. If you have trouble keeping track of multiple passwords, use a password manager to track and store them. Some web browsers have a password manager built in.
Never click any links or open attachments in an extortion email. They could be ploys to infect your computer with malware.
