Sextortion Text Message: Fake Threats and Bitcoin Scam
Beware of emails from scammers who threaten to release intimate footage of you unless you pay. We're receiving many new reports about email, text, or phone call extortion messages. Sextortion scam continuing to target email accounts and phone numbers. Typically, the scammer claims to have hacked an individual’s webcam or computer and installed malware to capture intimate footage of the recipient. The emails may also contain a password, sourced from previous data leaks published online. The recipient is given 24 hours to pay via Bitcoin or the footage will be released to their contacts.
The email may look legitimate but it’s a scam. If this sounds like an email you’ve received, you should disregard it, don’t reply to the scammer and don’t give into any demands.
The cybercriminals may have your old password, but it doesn't mean that they have anything on you. It appears they may have gotten your password from the Yahoo or other internet hacks or data breaches that took place a few months or years ago. Yahoo and the companies who suffered the data breach have forced their users to change their passwords, so they should have nothing to worry about.
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Note: Some of the information in samples on this website may have been impersonated or spoofed.