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Fraudsters have been sending spam emails that allege they have recorded video of “you getting yourself off,” which they threaten to expose if they are not paid off.
The emails claim that the scammer is from out of the country, and cannot be targeted by local law enforcement.
Scammers allege that based on their potential victims’ visiting “bad” websites that infected computers with malware, they now have video of lewd acts that they threaten to share with friends and family.
In order to “obviate the disgrace for the term of life, you should send 18 Dash coins” to a certain address, and “your prestige will not be damaged,” the fraudsters wrote in an email to Daily Voice.
The scammers offer a 24-hour deadline to transfer the bitcoin, with the compromising video allegedly being disseminated within 48 hours.
The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center said it has seen an increase in reports of online extortion scams during the current "stay-at-home" orders due to the COVID-19 crisis.
“Because large swaths of the population are staying at home and likely using the computer more than usual, scammers may use this opportunity to find new victims and pressure them into sending money,” they wrote in a report.
“The scammers are sending emails threatening to release sexually explicit photos or personally compromising videos to the individual's contacts if they do not pay. While there are many variations of these online extortion attempts, they often share certain commonalities.”
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