Cyber crime has increased during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Royal Newfoundland Constabulary says there has been an increase in reports of online extortion scams.
The most common scam reported involves people sending fraudulent emails threatening to release sexually explicit photos or personally compromising videos to the victim’s contacts if they do not pay a certain amount of Bitcoin.
The RNC says Bitcoin is the currency that scammers often use.
With more people staying home with increases in screen time, the RNC says scammers are using this as an opportunity to find new victims and pressure them into sending money.
There is a complete list of possible indicators of a scam provided by the RNC below.
RNC Advises Community of Cyber Crime – There has been an increase in reports of online extortion scams during the #COVID19 pandemic. Visit our website for more information. #CyberCrimes #YourRNC https://t.co/50rJZCvhDD
— Royal Newfoundland Constabulary (@RNC_PoliceNL) May 28, 2020
The following characteristics are not all-inclusive, but should serve as red flags. It is important to remember that scammers adapt their scams to capitalize on current events such as the COVID-19 pandemic, high-profile data breaches, or new trends involving the Internet, all in an attempt to give their scams seem more authenticity:
- The online extortion attempt comes as an e-mail from an unknown party and, many times, will be written in broken English with grammatical errors;
- The recipient’s personal information is noted in the e-mail or letter to add a higher degree of intimidation to the scam. For example, the recipient’s user name or password is provided at the beginning of the e-mail or letter;
- The recipient is accused of visiting adult websites, cheating on a spouse, or being involved in other compromising situations;
- The e-mail or letter includes a statement like, “I had a serious spyware and adware infect your computer,” or “I have a recorded video of you” as an explanation of how the information was allegedly gathered;
- The e-mail or letter threatens to send a video or other compromising information to family, friends, coworkers, or social network contacts if a ransom is not paid;
- The e-mail or letter provides a short window to pay, typically 48 hours;
- The recipient is instructed to pay the ransom in Bitcoin, a virtual currency that provides a high degree of anonymity to the transactions.
