There have been plenty of sextortion threats in the past, but there’s a new one out there that hackers are believe will make victims fall for — and, as the headline reads, it has to do with your porn-watching habits.
According to Zerohedge.com, hackers are promising victims that they’ve taken control of their computers’ webcam and have filmed them watching porn. The hackers then demand a bitcoin payment, and, if not received, threaten to release the porn-watching video to all of your contacts — which, of course, includes friends, family and co-workers, among other people.
Here’s what the message of the sextortion threat looks like, so keep an eye out for it in your inbox — but don’t be curious nor fooled, guys, it’s all a scam.
You don’t know me and you’re thinking why you received this e mail, right?
Well, I actually placed a malware on the porn website and guess what, you visited this web site to have fun (you know what I mean). While you were watching the video, your web browser acted as a RDP (Remote Desktop) and a keylogger which provided me access to your display screen and webcam. Right after that, my software gathered all your contacts from your Messenger, Facebook account, and email account.
What exactly did I do?
I made a split-screen video. First part recorded the video you were viewing (you’ve got a fine taste haha), and next part recorded your webcam (Yep! It’s you doing nasty things!).
What should you do?
Well, I believe, $1400 is a fair price for our little secret. You’ll make the payment via Bitcoin to the below address (if you don’t know this, search “how to buy bitcoin” in Google).
BTC Address: 1Dvd7Wb72JBTbAcfTrxSJCZZuf4tsT8V72
(It is cAsE sensitive, so copy and paste it)Important:
You have 24 hours in order to make the payment. (I have an unique pixel within this email message, and right now I know that you have read this email). If I don’t get the payment, I will send your video to all of your contacts including relatives, coworkers, and so forth. Nonetheless, if I do get paid, I will erase the video immidiately. If you want evidence, reply with “Yes!” and I will send your video recording to your 5 friends. This is a non-negotiable offer, so don’t waste my time and yours by replying to this email.
As you might imagine, it’s all pretty scary stuff. But, to help protect you from becoming a victim, here are some tips from the FBI on how to avoid sextortion.
- Never send compromising images of yourself to anyone, no matter who they are — or who they say they are.
- Don’t open attachments from people you don’t know, and in general be wary of opening attachments even from those you do know.
- Turn off [and/or cover] any web cameras when you are not using them.
Although there are theories about how and when the scammers got the usernames and passwords of email recipients — with the most popular being that it was part of a big data breach over 10 years ago — there’s still no sure answer. As for a solution, as we mentioned above, avoid any curiosity when it comes to this kind of stuff, otherwise you could find yourself as a victim that brings a huge fallout.
To see more details about the sextortion threat, head on over to Zerohedge.com.
(H/T Zerohedge.com)