Beware of emails with blackmail content

Caution! At the moment, Internet users are receiving a lot of emails demanding a certain amount of money because they are in possession of a spicy video!

We received several inquiries about a very dubious email:

Today I received this email without attachments:

Sender:
vh

Subject:
Yоur соmputеr hаs а gооd саmеrа, I hаvе yоur phоtоs.

Text:
Hello
Dо not mind оn my illitеrасy, I аm from China.

I uрlоadеd thе maliciоus рrоgram оn уоur systеm.
Sinсе that moment I рilfеrеd аll privy bаckgrоund frоm yоur system. Аdditionally I have some more соmрrоmising evidеnсе. The most interesting evidence that I stole- its a video tape with your masturbation. I adjusted virus on a porn web site and after you loaded it. Whеn yоu dесidеd with thе video аnd tаррed on a play buttоn, my delеtеrious soft at оnсе sеt uр on your systеm. After adjusting, your camera shoots the video with your self-abusing, in addition it saves the video you masturbated on. In next fеw days my mаlwаrе сollеctеd аll yоur social аnd wоrk соntacts.

If you want to delete the records- pay me 333 euros in BTС(cryрtocurrency).
I рrovide you my Btc numberr – 1Cot7RaTfFQyeJ2yj5bxUsSX2zBf131Umo
You have 24 hours after reading.
When I get transfer I will destroy the video tape ever again. Other way I will send the message to all your colleagues and friends.

This is not the first time that unknown cyber criminals have tried to use this scam to get money from Internet users. It is repeatedly claimed that a Trojan or spy software was installed on the victim's computer and that recordings of the victim masturbating were taken. You should pay a certain amount so that the attacker deletes the video - whether he will actually do this or continue to blackmail the victim can never be said with certainty in such attacks.

Only recently, emails of this kind in German, but no matter what language, you should definitely not comply with the request!

Do these scammers really have video footage of me?

In the case of current blackmail attempts via email, unfortunately it cannot be clearly proven whether the blackmailers actually have video material of the victims or not. We assume that the cyber criminals do not have any video material. To date there has only been one similar case where a user was actually blackmailed. We reported about it here .

Infection with malware cannot be ruled out either. When you visit dubious websites, it can happen again and again that you get malware. Good virus protection protects users from this potential danger.

Still not paying?

We advise against paying the requested amount for such scams!

In addition to not relying on a criminal's word, any user who gives in to such a demand qualifies as a potential "permanent victim." to report such emails and other blackmail attempts immediately to the nearest police station .

Sextortion

It seems to start harmlessly: users are flirted with by attractive strangers on social networks such as Facebook or WhatsApp . After a short chat, you will soon be invited to switch video chat such as Skype

Once there, the mysterious person usually immediately begins to undress and pose lasciviously. The unsuspecting users are asked to also appear naked and/or perform sexual acts on themselves .

If they comply with the request, disillusionment soon follows: The chat partner makes contact again shortly after the chat and informs the victim that the delicate video was or screenshots were taken. Now the fraudsters are demanding money and threatening to publish the recordings . This scam is “sextortion ,” a combination of “sex” and “extortion . ”

As a rule, the blackmailers threaten to publish the delicate videos or nude photos on social networks or send them directly to the friends of those affected. Recordings from the video chat are often uploaded to video platforms such as YouTube – initially as “private” videos. In the title and video description, the scammers include as much information about the victim as possible. If the private link is sent to the victim, this of course increases the pressure. The perpetrators do not stop at minors - those affected so far include adults as well as young people .

It is mainly men who are contacted by supposedly young ladies on social networks and persuaded to flirt in the chat. What many people don't think about in this situation: Even a supposedly private chat is not a protected space! The perpetrators use the victims' fear and shame as leverage to enforce their demands for money . Sometimes the intimate video recordings are also used to defame and destroy those affected on the Internet ( cyber bullying ). On the Internet, fraudsters hide behind false identities and do not show themselves at any time during the video chat. The provocative images or videos usually come from other websites and are only played in the chat.