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BBB Warning: Online Extortion Scam Making the Rounds

Better Business Bureau

Better Business Bureau

The Better Business Bureau (BBB) has learned about a scam that involves personal emails and presents victims with threats of revealing they watched or downloaded porn. The scammer will contact people and claim they have hacked their computer and activated their webcam, allowing them to access all the porn sites the victim has visited. The scammer then threatens to send that information to family, friends, co-workers, and more if a payment is not made.

Police recently issued a warning about this.

The following email was sent to a BBB employee:

You do not know me and you’re most likely thinking why you are getting this e-mail, right? Let me tell you, I placed a malware on the adult video clips … While you were watching video clips, I made â double-scréen video. 1st part displays the video you were wâtching, and next part shows the recording of your web câmera.

The scammer then said,

Right after thàt, my software gathered every one of your contacts from your Messenger, FB, and email … In my opinion, $1900 is a reasonable price tag for our little secret. You’ll make the payment by Bitcoin … You now have one day to make the payment.

“We just want people to be aware that this is out there,” says Evan Kelly, Senior Communications Advisor for BBB serving Mainland B.C. “The scammer is simply after a quick reaction from their victim to click and follow links where payment is made. Even if you’ve never been to a porn site you can still get this phishing email.”

If you are threatened with this, do not click on any unknown links or download any attachments. Doing so could lead you to a fake site designed to trick you into giving up personal information or can download malware to your computer or mobile device.

Protect yourself:

Never send money!

Do a security check on your computer OR if you haven’t done so already, install security software.

Change passwords immediately.

Don’t respond to threats.

Never send compromising images of yourself to anyone, no matter who they are-or who they say they are.

Do not open attachments from people you do not know.

Turn off your electronic devices and web cameras when you are not using them.

For more than 100 years, Better Business Bureau has been helping people find businesses and brands they can trust.

In 2017, people turned to BBB more than 365 million times for BBB Business Profiles, all available for free at bbb.org. BBB Serving Mainland B.C., founded in 1939 and serving the Lower Mainland, Thompson-Okanagan, Northern, Central and Southern Interior BC, and the Yukon, is one of 103 local, independent BBBs across North America. In 2017, consumers turned to BBB Serving Mainland B.C. nearly two million times for Business Reviews and processed over 6,000 complaints.