An old but persistent email scam known as “sextortion” has a new personal touch: Criminals, who say the malware captured webcam images of their recipients, are now including a photo of the target’s home in an effort to make threats about publishing videos more frightening and believable.
This week, several students reported receiving sextortion emails that called them names and included photos of their driveway or front yard that had been removed from an online mapping application such as Google Maps.
The message claims to have been sent from a hacker who hacked your computer and used your webcam to record a video of you watching porn. The wrong one threatens to release the video to all your contacts unless you pay a Bitcoin ransom. In this case, the ransom demand is $2,000, which is paid by scanning the QR code embedded in the email.
Following a greeting that includes the recipient’s full name, the beginning of the message reads, “Is visiting [recipient’s street address] the easiest way to communicate if you don’t take action. Nice place btw. ” Below that is a picture of the recipient’s street address.
A screenshot of a newish sextortion scam that includes a picture of the target’s front yard.
The message tells people they have 24 hours to pay, or their embarrassing videos will be shared with all their contacts, friends and family members.
“Don’t even think about answering this, it makes no sense,” the message concluded. “I don’t make mistakes, [recipient’s name]. If I see that you have shared or discussed this email with someone else, your dirty video will start being sent immediately to your contacts.”
The remaining parts of the two-page sextortion message (which comes as a PDF attachment) are fairly structured and include thematic elements seen in many past waves of sextortion. That includes claims that a hacker has installed malware on your computer (this time the scammer says the spy is called “Pegasus,” and that it’s watching everything you do on your machine.
Previous innovations in customizing sextortion involved sending emails that included at least one password they had previously used for an online account tied to their email address.
Sextortion – even automated scams like this one that have no real deterrent effect on the demand for extortion – is a serious crime that can have devastating consequences for victims. Sextortion occurs when someone threatens to share your private and sensitive information if you do not provide them with images of a sexual nature, sexual desires, or money.
According to the FBI, here are some things you can do to avoid becoming a victim:
– Never send compromising photos of yourself to anyone, regardless of who you are – or who you say you are.
-Don’t open attachments from people you don’t know, and be careful about opening attachments from people you know.
– Shut up [and/or cover] any webcams if you don’t use them.
The FBI says that in many sex crimes, the perpetrator is an adult posing as a teenager, and is one of many victims targeted by the same person. If you believe you are a sex victim, or know someone who is, the FBI wants to hear from you: Contact your local FBI office (or toll-free at 1-800-CALL-FBI).
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