Email scams claim to have webcam footage of recipient watching porn

Email users should be aware of an emerging type of extortion scam that claims to be from a “hacker” that falsely tells the email recipient that they have obtained webcam footage of the recipient masturbating.

Countless variants of this scam are already hitting inboxes but all of them follow a very basic template that is outlined below.

– The sender of the email claims to be a hacker who installed malware onto an adult website.
– The recipient’s device was infected with that malware when they visited that adult website.
– The malware subsequently took control of the victim’s webcam and recorded what they were … ahem, doing, when visiting the adult website.
– The malware also recorded all of the victim’s contacts in their address book or social media profiles.
– Unless the recipient pays up using a crypto-currency like BitCoin before a certain deadline, the hacker will release the compromising webcam footage to all their contacts.
– NOTE: Many versions may claim to have hacked your email or stolen your password, and may claim to show you that password as “proof”.
– Many versions of the email may appear to have been sent by your own email.

The emails will typically leave an address for the recipient to make the payment, such as a Bitcoin wallet address. Most variants also advise against replying to the email since it is temporary or stolen. Some examples are below –

Good morning!
Dont mind on my English, Im foreign.
Your OS is controlled by mine malware.
At present all your confidential background sent to me. Additionally I received slightly more evidence.
The most entertaining evidence which I have- its a record, and you are wanking on it.
You set my deleterious soft from a phishing web page with porn. When you clicked on a porn videotape, my malware at once loaded on your OS.
After loading, your front-camera made the video with you self-abusing, furthermore it saved exactly the porn video you watched. During 3 hours my deleterious soft captured all your social and work contacts.
If you wish to destroy all the compromising evidence- transfer me 309 euro in BTC(cryptocurrency).
Here is my Bitcoin number –
You have 22 h. from this moment. When I receive transaction I will eliminate the video evermore. Other way I will send the video to all your contacts.

Good day
Your system was managed by the damnific program…
Whats the trouble?
I put our virus on a porn page, you tapped on the video and immediately downloaded this malicious soft to your system.
My malware made your front camera recording so I got the videotape with you wanking. In the next 6 hours this malware captured all contacts from your device.
Finally, I have all your private information and record with you wanking, so if you need me to destroy all the compromising – send me 345 usd in BTC(cryptocurrency). Differently I will send the video to all your friends.
Its my Btc wallet address –
You have 28 hours to go from this moment. If I get transaction I will eliminate the video permanently.
Im apologize for my illiteracy- I am from China.
PS this mail address, I have stolen it.

Readers should know that this is a scam, and the email is just one big lie in order to panic recipients into paying a ransom. There is no such footage of the email recipient and the scammer is relying on the recipient not knowing that and making the payment.

Email scams such as this may well prove to be quite popular, since the recipient needn’t be entirely convinced of the emails authenticity but may still make a payment “just in case”. After all, no one wants embarrassing or compromising video of themselves sent to their friends and family. Additionally, those unsure of whether these emails are genuine may be put off seeking help from more knowledgeable people because of the sensitive and potentially awkward subject matter.

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And since most Internet devices (laptops, tablets or even smartphones) come equipped with front-facing cameras as standard, many Internet surfers may believe it’s not outside the realms of possibility that the story told in the email is genuine.

However, if you do receive such as email, the chances of it being genuine are next to zero. We’ve received a number of reports of people receiving variants of this scam (even we ourselves saw one come in one of our inboxes) and they’ve all turned out to be fake. There are a number of tell-tale signs that these scams are trying to bluff you…

– Such scams are usually poorly worded since they originate from non-English speaking countries

– The emails won’t include your name or any other personal information (because they are sent out en masse to thousands of other email addresses.)

– They will implore readers not to reply to the email, since they know many will request proof the compromising videos exist (and of course, they don’t!)

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But the email knew my password (or old password)?

Latter variants of these scams used large data breaches to add authenticity to their scams. When companies suffer large data breaches (and there have been many high profile breaches over the last few years) this can result in large databases of email and password combinations being leaked onto the Internet. And when these crooks get their hands on that leaked information, they can use it to make their scams legitimate.

This is why many recipients note that it’s old passwords that are quoted in these emails. Rest assured, the “hacker” hasn’t hacked you – they just got your [old] password from a data leak from a company where you held an account.

But the email appeared to come from me?

It didn’t. It’s exceptionally easy to spoof the sender email address to make it anything you want. The crooks are making it appear as if they sent the email from your own account. They didn’t.

The best advice if you do get such scams land in your inbox is to simply ignore them. If you have reason to believe that the recipient does have compromising video footage of you and is trying to extort you, the best advice is to seek help from the authorities since that is a serious crime.