Imagine checking your email to find a letter threatening to expose your most private moments (and passwords) unless you pay a certain sum of money to the blackmailer. It’s frightening—but for the most part, your habits and internet history will stay safe. Read on for more information from a provider of cybersecurity services in Phoenix, AZ.
The scam
Scammers have been employing this trick for several years now: they send out mass emails to people telling them that their computers have been hacked, they have video of the person “self-abusing” to pornography and will reveal it publicly if the person does not pay a certain amount of money in bitcoin. In some cases, the scammer may include a password they claim to have acquired from the victim’s computer, or spoof their email to make it look like it’s from a legitimate source.
There have in fact been cases where computers were hacked and their webcams used to capture people in various states of undress or other private activities, and then the footage was made public—but those are much rarer than you might think. If you’ve received an email like this, chances are it’s nothing more than a scam.
How do I know it’s a scam?
Phishing scams are named as such because the scammer is “fishing” for information. The first thing you should do if you receive a similar email is see if they have any personal information about you whatsoever, beyond your email address. Do they know your name? Where you live? When the video was supposedly taken? Have they included screenshots from this video? Generally, the emails are vague and banking on the fact that you’ve visited a porn website before—since Pornhub, for example, gets about 75 million hits per day, they’re betting on the fact that you’re part of this huge demographic. Think critically: if someone wanted to make sure you pay to keep them quiet, they’d most likely include proof of the information they claim to have.
You should also run a virus scan on your computer to ensure no malware is present on your device. If the virus scan doesn’t find anything, it’s unlikely anyone has hacked into your webcam.
In some cases, however, the scammers have included an active password that you are using. While that’s cause for alarm, it doesn’t necessarily mean they’ve caught you looking at videos that would shock your parents—it means that you’re one of millions of people whose data was breached in recent years. Rather than panicking and sending money to a faceless blackmailer, consider this a warning that you need to change your passwords regularly.
If you find yourself on the receiving end of this scam, unless it has specific proof attached, you can safely dismiss it—but we recommend running virus scans, changing your passwords and covering your webcam whenever it’s not in use.
Do you have more questions about this scam, or are you interested in finding out more about cybersecurity services in Phoenix, AZ? GeekForce.biz has been keeping data safe since 1999. Call us today to learn more about how we can help!