A number of our clients have received an email claiming that they have been hacked and that the hackers have video taped them watching porn. To stop the hacker distributing the so called video to all their friends, they demand a ransom payment.
The email and its variants have been around for a while but seem to had made a resurgence in recent days. Be assured though that unless you have received still photos or an extract of the so called video then the email is a scam. There is no video and you haven’t been hacked, do not pay the ransom and just delete the email.
The bad guys are trying to scare you into paying them something. Remember, they send out these “sextortions” by the millions hoping that one or two people will pay the ransom.
More details can be found in our earlier blog article:
https://dpcomputing.com/blog/dont-fall-victim-to-the-webcam-blackmail-scam/
If you are still worried then we can help you run some malware scans and improve your security. Contact us know on 08 8326 4364 or
su*****@dp*********.au
A sample of one of these sextortion emails – note there are many similar variants.
Hello, Did you notice i have sent you this letter from your own private email? This means i have full access to your system. I will tell you the way i did all of this. A bit of time in the past you paid a visit to a few porn websites, one of those websites was inserted with a backdoor i created. This backdoor applied itself upon your system and provides me full entry to every one of your accounts, emails, files, contacts etc. While you checked out these adult internet sites i activated camera of your device and recorded a few video clips and took various screenshots of you as you "pleased yourself".... if you know what i mean. So i have got accessibility to your email accounts, to your device, i have some quite compromising pictures and clips of you and i have every one of your email and social media contacts. No matter how often you adjust your username and password, my backdoor will invariably allow me complete access to your device. You're able to ignore this mail, delivered from your own private account. In this case i will deliver each of the pictures and videos i posses of you "satisfying yourself" to each of your contacts. Furthermore your device will tock up in a specific amount of time and can never be used again. What should you do? You need to send 875 EUR to my btc address. Search Google, lots of websites offer btc utilizing a debit or credit card and the process is really fast. My btc addess: 16ULRXmxv5Vf37eYSaN9yFktv5SdaA5rhW. (copy-paste this, it is case sensitive) From the moment you read this message you triggered a timer. My system will now monitor this btc address for any inbound financial transactions. You have fifty hours. In case you do not make the transaction within this timeframe your system will lock up, even if you disconnect from the internet or change ail your online passwords. Additionally all your relationships will obtain all the nasty pictures and clips i have of you. If the money has come in time, my setup will instantly shut down the backdoor on your platform and erase all the data, pics and movies i posses of you and you will never ever hear from me again then you can go on to live your life like this never happen. Good luck!