In the first five months of 2019, an American software company called Symantec has blocked almost 300 million scam emails that attempted to extort cash from potential victims by threatening to expose their infidelity.
The scenario goes like this: an email arrives in your inbox with one of your old passwords in the subject line. Out of curiosity, you click on the email, only to find out that the sender has allegedly hacked into your device while you engaged in sexual activity. If you don't send a few hundred dollars in bitcoin to the hacker, they will reveal your embarrassing footage to everyone in your contact list.
This is just one of the classic templates of a bitcoin sextortion email.
Blackmail schemes are not new, although the scam emails asking for bitcoin ransoms started appearing mid-2018 and was revived early this year. Most phishing emails usually follow the same pattern so the bitcoin scam was supposedly easy to discredit.
"Threats, intimidation and high-pressure tactics are classic signs of a scam," reported by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on their website.
Unfortunately, after the bitcoin evolution, many people fell victim to this scheme. Based on the data gathered by Symantec alone, the scammers' bitcoin wallets received a total of approximately US$106,240 in that period, which means they could be making just over US$1.2 million in a year."
By October, the sextortion scammers pivoted to litecoin, bitcoin's rival cryptocurrency platform, to target more well-off victims. By this time, the scam was now officially dubbed as the "Save Yourself" malware.
In December, another alleged bitcoin scam was busted. Five men from a company called BitClub Network are now facing federal charges for milking money from their victims. The suspects purportedly preyed on willing investors who will buy shares in bitcoin for mining equipment. The extorted amount totaled $722 million.
After this incident, the public is once again warned by government officials to stay ahead of "clever crooks" who extort victims and ask for ransom in cryptocurrencies.
The FTC encourages people who receive sextortion emails to report the incident immediately to the local police and the FBI. To stay ahead of scammers and avoid falling victim to cryptoblackmails, the commission offered these practical tips:
Good data hygiene is the key to avoiding phishing scams. Here are some good data security habits to practice:
In a time when technology poses both risks and advantages, staying vigilant is the best way to protect yourself from fraudsters.
