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The X-rated scam that could cost you thousands

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The X-rated scam that could cost you thousands

Unread postby Wayne » Wed Feb 14, 2018 11:05 pm

The X-rated scam that could cost you thousands if you've ever watched porn

https://www.mirror.co.uk/money/x-rated- ... t-12025168

This scammer claims he knows what you did when your partner was out…and even has a film of it

Imagine you occasionally used your computer for more… adult enertainment. You wouldn’t be alone; a few years ago the University of Montreal launched a search for men who had never looked at pornography - and couldn’t find any.

And it’s not just men, PornHub reports that internet searches of the phrase ‘porn for women’ grew by 359% last year.

Yet that widespread use of less-well-clothed content is why a new scam is proving so very effective.

Imagine you’ve used your computer to view such content and then you get an email. The sender claims to have hacked your computer and filmed you while you watched whatever it is.

It doesn’t matter that the pornography you’ve been viewing is completely legal, the threat to email a video of you, ahem, enjoying it to your friends and family is enough to make a hell of lot of people pay up.

Candid camera work
Man looking at porn on a computer
Is your webcam covered? (Image: Getty)
Reader Sam, who prefers not to give his full name, received such an email. It was polite, it was actually very funny but it would definitely have frightened a lot of people.

“Good day,” it began.

“I do not presume to judge you… I do not think that caress oneself is very bad, but when all your acquaintances see it – it is obviously very bad.”

Yep, this scammer does speak some truth there. No one wants images of them, um, caressing themselves to be sent to their mum. She probably doesn’t want that either.

“So, closer to the point,” continues the scammer. “You visited the internet with роrn, which I’ve seized with the virus. Then you clicked on a video, virus started working and your device became function as dedicated desktop immediately.

“Obviously, all cams and screen started recording immediately and then my virus collected all contacts from your device.”

Obviously…

“The most interesting point that I created video, on one side it shows your screen record, on second side your cams record. Its very funny. But it wasn’t so easy ,so I proud of it.”

Woman watching porn
He threatened to send a video of Sam's reaction to his contacts (Image: Getty)
READ MORE
5 ways to keep your webcam feed private
He’s proud of his hard-work, that’s nice. Anyway, this scammer went on to demand Sam pay him a fee of $295 (about £213) within 10 days or he would start sharing the video with his full address book.

Fortunately, Sam was confident it was a bluff and didn’t bother replying or paying. The scammer had no video of him and so it was never shared.

But Sam’s email was just a weaker example of a common trend in scams right now.

The threat of shame and humiliation, the urgency to act before you have time to think, and the assumption that most of us have used our computers to do stuff we’d really rather our mothers didn’t see makes this an effective scam.

So how do you stay safe?

Relax, don’t do it
If you receive an email like Sam’s then it is best to ignore it. And most people will, but that doesn’t mean the scammers aren’t making a lot of money out of the sizable minority who panic and pay.

Lee Munson, security researcher for Comparitech.com, explains: “The success rate for any scam email campaign is extremely low as the vast majority of such messages get nuked by anti-spam filters and security software, yet it remains a huge problem as the cost of entry is so very low.

“Beyond believability and a false sense of urgency, the next greatest trick is to instil a sense of dread and panic, which is a massive motivating force.

“Of course, the obvious answer is for people to completely disregard such messages or report them to ActionFraud or the police but many won’t due to the nature of the content.”

Tim Ayling, director of fraud and risk intelligence at RSA Security, urges people receiving this kind of threat to stay calm and look for signs it’s not real.

“Don’t panic,” he said. “Mass-phishing emails like this are often poorly put together, and there will often be clear indicators that the email isn’t aimed at you, whether it’s badly written English, unusual formatting, or an email address that doesn’t match the address book contact, the devil really is in the detail.

“More generally, unless you know for a fact it can be trusted, avoid clicking on any links or attachments in emails; otherwise you could unwittingly install malware or ransomware on your machine.

“In this case, it was just a scare tactic in order to get a ransom, but the email could just as easily have been loaded with something nasty, which would be a much bigger problem.”

He also recommends reporting this kind of phishing attack to ActionFraud, as this will help them monitor the latest scams.

Whatever you do, even if you believe they really have made a video of you ‘caressing yourself’, don’t don’t don’t give them money. If you feed a shark it won’t go away, it will come back for more.

Gretel Egan, security ‘evangelist’ at Wombat Security Technologies, said you should seize the initiative: “My advice to anyone who receives a message that demands money (whether it is a blackmailing attack like this one or larger threats like the WannaCry ransomware attack which took place last summer) is to report it.

“Blackmail is a serious violation of criminal law and the penalty for blackmailers can be up to 14 years in prison. And never count on honour amongst thieves. Cybercriminals are extortionists; if they are given money, there is no guarantee that they will honour their promises.”

Chief scientist at McAfee Raj Samani said that we keep seeing this scam because it works but it’s much easier to send a threat to hundreds of people than to genuinely hack the webcam of one.

“The likelihood of the sender actually having a video of you doing anything you wouldn’t want your friends or family to see is very unlikely and paying up only encourages criminals to carry on using this sort of illegal tactic to earn money.”

So there you have it; don’t pay up and do report it. And don’t live in fear that your friends and family are going to be sent a solo sex-tape.

And if you're really worried, follow Mark Zuckerberg's lead and put some tape over your webcam .
Click HERE for webcam blackmail/sextortion help.
Do NOT email me for sextortion help. Use the link above. If you ignore this, your message WILL be deleted.
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Wayne
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