Shashank Shekhar | Posted by Ganesh Kumar Radha Udayakumar
New Delhi, October 2, 2017 | UPDATED 08:46 IST
Cyber criminals are telling gullible netizens that they've recorded them watching porn, and are extorting money from them by threatening to make these videos public.
Cyber criminals have a new trick up their sleeve to dupe gullible netizens.
They tell their victims they've hacked their computers and recorded them watching porn. If they want those 'explicit videos' deleted, they'll have to pay up. Cyber experts say that threats to post such videos on social media sites are baseless.
Complainants have contacted police, alleging that they have received emails from international hackers who claim to have hacked their mobile phone and computer and now have access to all their contacts and data.
In the mails, they claim that they've recorded the video using spying software and threaten to make it public if they aren't paid $330 (Rs 21,544) in Bitcoin.
'NEW MODUS OPERANDI'
A detailed investigation has revealed that scamsters haven't hacked any computing device.
"It is a new modus operandi, where criminals are only cashing (in) on human behavior. As the number of porn viewers is very high, they are sending bulk mails and trying to scare soft targets. Even if one in thousand pays the money their job is done," said Amit Dubey, a cyber crime expert.
One such email accessed by Mail Today reads, "I have installed the virus on a webpage with videos for adults. It was downloaded in your system which also had a keylogger function. The software enables secretly recording in the computer. My software has also collected all your contacts from messengers, e-mails and social networks."
The mail was sent by one Jack Harris, who claims to be in Nigeria.
He further writes, "I have made a split screen video, in the first part you can be seen while in the second part of the screen the porn content accessed by you can be seen. It will not be good news for you if I share this with your contacts or share it on porn sites. If you don't want this to happen then send me $330 payment in Bitcoins."
The hacker, who shared his wallet address, also mentioned that he was writing from abroad and that cops would take a long time to track him.
NO PAYMENTS REPORTED YET IN NOIDA
The Noida Police has received such complaints, but in none of the cases that have been reported so far has a victim paid the extortionists.
"Earlier such scamsters used to send random e-mails claiming that the person has won a lottery, but now they are trying to scare and extort," said a senior police officer.
Cyber investigator Amit Dubey said computers and mobile phones of those who received such mails were scanned, and it has been found that those mails were baseless.
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