A new form of sexual blackmail (sextortion) is coming to deceive unsuspecting victims, after they are informed that they have been recorded in their private moments on the security cameras of their homes.
“It’s a new version of a classic scam where criminals try to convince you that they have private moments or information about you, which they will share if you don’t pay them a ransom,” said Kiri Addison, chief data officer at information security firm Mimecast. She said Mimecast saw a huge spike in the new version, with more than 1,600 scam emails intercepted in just two days from Jan. 2 to Jan. 3.
“It starts with an email saying they have some nude photos of you.”
The email then provides a link to a website that shows footage from surveillance cameras in public areas, such as bars or restaurants. This, according to the scammers, is supposed to be a familiar area to the victim. The footage it shows resembles any location someone might have visited and is intended to convince the victim that they have been recorded somewhere else, possibly via smartphone, for a long time.
“Imagine what you’ve done in the past 11 months and think about what we’ve seen you do,” they say on their page. “Your videos have currently been uploaded to multiple pornographic websites and you only have one week until they become available to the public.”
Using real news events
The issue has gained prominence after several disturbing videos showed how criminals were able to gain access to home cameras, including Google, Amazon's and even baby monitors.
The scam, like most sextortion scams, relies on "social engineering," a process through which the scammer induces shame, panic, or guilt in a victim in order to force them to act quickly – often without thinking.
After the initial email, the scammers lead the victim through a strange maze, asking them to register at another type of email address, where they will supposedly receive further proof and information.
This “evidence” can come in the form of a random image and other messages, often asking users to create another email address.
Along the way, they ask the victim to create a bitcoin wallet and pay about $500 to keep the supposed photos or videos from being posted, according to Mimecast's research. The company doesn't track statistics on how many people have fallen victim to this scam.
The photos and videos don't exist, Addison said. The scammers are making the system complicated, making it harder for security companies to trace emails or trace the origin of the criminals' bitcoin wallets.
Sextortion scams are very low-tech and easy to carry out. As a result, they are very common.
In most cases of sex fraud, the victim receives an email that uses tactics – such as displaying a stolen password from a victim’s old email account – to convince the victim that their email account has been compromised. In most of these cases, the criminals do not have access to the victim’s information.
In a rarer and more damaging version of this scam that often targets teenagers, a criminal convinces the victim to send sexually explicit images – and then threatens to leak them unless the victim pays a ransom. In September, the FBI launched an initiative to combat this type of crime.
Total email extortion complaints increased by 242% in 2018 to 51,146 reported crimes, with total losses of $83 million.
What to do if you receive a sexual blackmail email
If you receive a sextortion email, the best thing to do is ignore it. Although cameras and smartphones connected to the internet can be attacked, this is a very rare event.
If you're still concerned, update your spam filters to make sure they're filtering out the latest versions of this scam. You can also change your passwords or use a password manager, along with multi-factor authentication, to make sure your email address and personal information on other websites are safe.
You can also report troubling emails to your company's IT department or the police.
