& # 39; Sextortion & # 39; scammers still blackmail people by threatening to send videos of those who watch porn on their contact list, a new report has been warned.
More than 24,000 & # 39; badly spelled & # 39; e-mails were sent in an attempt to deceive people who are told to send money to Bitcoin wallets owned by cyber criminals.
The security company behind the study explained that scammers do not have an explicit video or your contact list and advised people not to keep their e-mail.
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& # 39; Sextortion & # 39; scammers still blackmail people by threatening to send videos of those who watch porn on their contact list, a new report has been warned. More than 24,000 & # 39; badly spelled & # 39; emails were sent in an attempt to mislead people (stock image)
The scam is set out in a report issued by the California security company Barracuda.
Fraudsters send e-mails to computer users with a password that they have used in the past and that were made public during a data breach.
The scam, which began in July, claims that your computer is infected by a Remote Access Trojan – which e-mails a & # 39; Remote Desktop & # 39; tool.
Victims are then told that they have been recorded watching explicit video on their computer and that the images are made public if they do not comply.
The scammers then threaten to have your contact list of your e-mail and social network accounts before they demand that ransom be paid.
A woman who spoke to Barracuda under the condition of anonymity told them that the scammers had sent her three emails in the month of October.
She said she had her passwords that were all very old, but in an exchange with her, the scammers said that it & # 39; did not matter because they had been operating her computer for years & # 39 ;.
The scam is set out in a report issued by the California security company Barracuda. Scammers then threaten that they have your contact list from your email and social network accounts before they demand that ransom is paid (inventory)
The passwords they have are legitimate and most likely obtained via an Anti-Public Combo List.
This is a database with more than 500 million username and password pairs that have been leaked as part of a number of high-profile data bids at companies such as Yahoo! and Equifax.
According to Barracuda, the scam is still active. Countries affected are the US, China, Australia and Canada and the UK.
So far, the scam did not succeed because of the bad spelling and grammar in the e-mails, which is a general sign of a phishing-based scheme.
A software engineer at Barracuda Networks told Fox News that "better spelling and English would increase the effectiveness of the scams in general."
He warned that people should remain vigilant. Although this specific scam has been largely ineffective, the overhead for the scammers is rather low because they simply have to send e-mails to addresses on public lists.
HOW CAN YOU PROTECT YOUR INFORMATION ONLINE?
Because hackers become more creative, security experts warn that consumers should take all possible measures to protect their identity (file photo)
- Make your authentication process as twofold as possible. You should choose this option on websites that offer it, because when an identity-specific action is required in addition to entering your password and username, it becomes considerably more difficult for fraudsters to access your information.
- Secure your phone. Avoiding public Wi-Fi and installing a screen lock are simple steps that can hinder hackers. Some fraudsters have started with the immediate discount of secured phones altogether. Installing anti-malware can also be useful.
- Subscribe to notifications. A number of institutions offering financial services, including credit card issuers, offer customers the opportunity to be notified when they detect suspicious activity. Enable these notifications to keep track of the credit card activities associated with your account.
- Be careful when issuing transactions online. Again, some settings provide notifications to help you with this, alerting you when your card is being used online. It can also be useful to set limits for amounts that can be spent online with your card.