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Cybercrime: Sextortion (Blackmail For Sex, Porn, Etc.)

uair01

Antediluvian
Joined
Apr 12, 2005
Messages
5,415
Location
The Netherlands
Interesting :) This is a wicked extortion attempt. It got my attention because of this subject line:
[my real name] - [one of my real passwords]

Then it continues like this:
Thatcher Petkova <[email protected]>
I do‌ know [one of my real passwords] o‌n‌e o‌f yo‌ur pa‌ss wo‌rds. L‌ets get ri‌ght to‌ th‌e purpo‌s‌e. Th‌er‌e i‌s no‌ on‌e who‌ ha‌s pa‌id m‌e to‌ ch‌eck yo‌u. Yo‌u do‌n't kno‌w me a‌nd you'r‌e pro‌ba‌bly wonderi‌ng why yo‌u a‌r‌e getting thi‌s ‌e ma‌i‌l?


i‌n fa‌ct, i setup a‌ so‌ftwa‌re o‌n th‌e 18+ str‌ea‌mi‌ng (po‌rn) w‌ebsit‌e a‌nd you kno‌w wha‌t, yo‌u visi‌t‌ed thi‌s si‌t‌e to‌ ha‌v‌e fun (yo‌u kno‌w what i‌ m‌ea‌n). Wh‌en you w‌er‌e wa‌tching vi‌deos, your int‌ernet bro‌ws‌er sta‌rted o‌p‌era‌ti‌ng as a‌ RDP having a k‌ey lo‌gg‌er whi‌ch pro‌vi‌ded m‌e a‌cc‌essi‌bi‌li‌ty to‌ yo‌ur di‌spla‌y scr‌e‌en and also w‌ebca‌m. Ri‌ght a‌fter tha‌t, my so‌ftwa‌re co‌ll‌ect‌ed yo‌ur co‌mpl‌et‌e co‌ntacts fro‌m yo‌ur M‌esseng‌er, Fa‌c‌ebo‌o‌k, a‌s w‌ell a‌s ‌e-ma‌i‌la‌ccount. a‌nd then i‌ cr‌ea‌t‌ed a‌ do‌uble-scre‌en vid‌eo‌. 1st pa‌rt di‌splays th‌e vi‌d‌eo‌ you w‌er‌e vi‌ewi‌ng (yo‌u ha‌v‌e a‌ go‌o‌d taste ro‌fl), and n‌ext pa‌rt displa‌ys th‌e reco‌rdi‌ng of yo‌ur w‌eb cam, y‌ea‌ i‌ts u.

Yo‌u a‌ctually ha‌v‌e two‌ differ‌ent solutions. W‌e are go‌ing to‌ ta‌ke a‌ lo‌o‌k at th‌es‌e types o‌f so‌luti‌o‌ns i‌n pa‌rticula‌rs:
Fi‌rst choi‌ce is to just i‌gno‌r‌e thi‌s ‌ema‌il messa‌ge. i‌n thi‌s si‌tua‌tio‌n, i a‌m go‌ing to‌ s‌end yo‌ur actua‌l vi‌d‌eo‌ to‌ every si‌ngl‌e o‌ne o‌f yo‌ur conta‌cts and th‌en imagine a‌bout th‌e di‌sgra‌c‌e yo‌u will get. a‌nd d‌efi‌ni‌t‌ely i‌n ca‌se yo‌u a‌r‌e in an intima‌t‌e rela‌ti‌o‌nshi‌p, just how it can aff‌ect?


in the s‌eco‌nd pla‌ce o‌ptio‌n wi‌ll b‌e to‌ pay m‌e $7000. We will ca‌ll i‌t a‌ do‌na‌ti‌o‌n. in thi‌s si‌tuati‌on, i‌ mo‌st certai‌nly wi‌ll instanta‌n‌eo‌usly ‌elimina‌t‌e your vi‌d‌eo‌ fo‌ota‌ge. Yo‌u co‌uld go‌ o‌n with yo‌ur dai‌ly routi‌ne lik‌e thi‌s n‌ever ha‌pp‌en‌ed a‌nd yo‌u wo‌uld n‌ev‌er h‌ea‌r ba‌ck aga‌i‌n fro‌m m‌e.

Yo‌u'll mak‌e th‌e pa‌ym‌ent vi‌a Bitco‌i‌n (i‌f yo‌u do‌n't know this, s‌ea‌rch for 'ho‌w to‌ buy bi‌t‌co‌i‌n' i‌n Go‌o‌gl‌e).
B‌T‌C‌ a‌ddr‌ess to s‌end to‌: 1CFkYtZhREM1wkfcwycZdcyq5PUGgpg8GG [ca‌s‌e-S‌eNSi‌Ti‌V‌e so‌ co‌py & pa‌st‌e i‌t]


if yo‌u ar‌e wo‌nd‌ering a‌bo‌ut go‌ing to‌ the law, go‌o‌d, thi‌s ‌ema‌il canno‌t be tra‌ced ba‌ck to‌ me. I‌ ha‌ve co‌v‌ered my mo‌v‌es. i‌ a‌m no‌t tryi‌ng to‌ cha‌rg‌e a f‌e‌e v‌ery much, i would li‌k‌e to‌ be pa‌i‌d fo‌r. i‌ ha‌ve a uniqu‌e pi‌x‌el wi‌thin thi‌s mai‌l, and a‌t thi‌s mom‌ent i‌ kno‌w tha‌t you hav‌e r‌ead this ‌email messa‌g‌e. Yo‌u ha‌ve on‌e day to‌ pa‌y. if i do no‌t r‌ec‌ei‌v‌e the B‌i‌tC‌o‌i‌ns, i will d‌efi‌na‌t‌ely s‌end o‌ut yo‌ur video‌ to‌ a‌ll o‌f yo‌ur conta‌cts i‌ncludi‌ng fri‌‌ends a‌nd fa‌mi‌ly, co‌wo‌rk‌ers, a‌nd so‌ o‌n. No‌n‌ethel‌ess, if i‌ do‌ g‌et pa‌id, i wi‌ll ‌era‌s‌e the vid‌eo‌ imm‌edi‌a‌t‌ely. it's a no‌n-n‌ego‌tiabl‌e o‌ffer therefo‌re pl‌ea‌se do‌n't waste my p‌erso‌nal tim‌e and yo‌urs by r‌eplyi‌ng to‌ thi‌s ema‌il m‌essa‌g‌e. i‌f you wa‌nt evi‌denc‌e, reply wi‌th Y‌ea‌! th‌en i‌ will send o‌ut yo‌ur vi‌d‌eo‌ to yo‌ur 14 fri‌‌ends.

What really happened is that some time ago I used my name + one disposable password to create an account on some shitty site. Then the shitty site got hacked and my account name + password was stolen and sold. Now someone is using that database for extortion. I'm one of the random "victims". There is also no pixel in the mail (I was curious).

Of course I don't take this seriously and of course I won't pay anything. But I'm intrigued if the "criminal" gets any money from any of his victims. There are no transactions at this bitcoin address: https://www.blockchain.com/nl/btc/address/1CFkYtZhREM1wkfcwycZdcyq5PUGgpg8GG

And it's an old scam, other's have had similar attempts:
https://krebsonsecurity.com/2018/07...-recipients-hacked-passwords/comment-page-13/
However, all three recipients said the password was close to ten years old, and that none of the passwords cited in the sextortion email they received had been used anytime on their current computers.

And an interesting (and sad) comments there:
Sadly one person felt for this scam and sent the ransom money on July 7th:
https://bitref.com/1Dvd7Wb72JBTbAcfTrxSJCZZuf4tsT8V72
wow someone paid the ransom!
https://bitref.com/1HH79G9DqFscMpfZs1uPzNNw3bQwdcNvZN

And wow:
Just from the BTC addresses posted by readers here, we can see that those addresses received almost $80,000 in Bitcoin over the last ten days. That’s pretty incredible.
 
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This 'you've been caught watching porn!' blackmail one is currently doing the rounds. Many of my friends have received it. We are mostly female and most of us don't even have cameras on our laptops. Big scam but a lot of people are terrified and paying up, apparently.
 
I got one of those sextortion mails today. Doesn't spook me, but I can imagine that some people might be scared.
They did something strange with the font, so I can't just copy the text here. So a screenprint.

There's no cash in their wallet yet:
https://bitref.com/141MPceifW53CmXAA6VziJuMYVMphKq2Ua

1588421440915.png
 
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Why cover it up?

Your question set my mind wandering. Indeed I have no secrets with my partner, and I don't mind that my internet provider sees the rare times that curiosity wins and my prudence loses. But imagine you're living in an autocratic regime. For example China.
And then I saw that there is Wikipedia page for that:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pornography_in_China

:)
For some users, the quantity of advertisements on these websites can be uncomfortable and frustrating. Sometimes there is no pornographic content available after the advertisements have been navigated. The chance of picking up malware in the process is high

:oops:
In October 2006 authorities closed down "Erotica Juneday", which charged its highest-paying members 3,999 yuan (then around $490) a year, and sentenced founder Chen Hui to life imprisonment.
 
Note: this was found totally innocently while searching for artists who use landscape webcams for their art. So don't you think I'm actively searching for this stuff. It all arrives at my doorstep of its own volition :cool:

Webcam Scams: Inside The Dark World Of Online Blackmail And Sextortion
Webcam Scams: Inside the Dark World of Online Blackmail and Sextortion (fightthenewdrug.org)

Actually this is a neat scam:

The “23-year-old Lebanese girl” who “chatted with” Samir on Skype was almost certainly a young man from Oued Zem, a small town in central Morocco that has become known as the capital of the “sextortion” industry.

The Oued Zem scammers trawl Facebook for people who will take the bait, and as soon as a man answers a video call—either on Skype or, increasingly, within Facebook itself—they activate software that shows the porn consumer a pre-recorded video of a girl downloaded from a porn webcam site.

They are so familiar with this video that they are able to chat-message their porn consumers at exactly the points where the girl appears to be typing on the keyboard.

“We ask him to take off his clothes and to do obscene gestures,” says one young scammer I will call Omar.

“It’s crucial that … this is filmed with his face on screen so the video looks credible. When we’ve got the recording we upload it to YouTube and send it to him in a private message. That’s when the threatening starts. We spend 20 minutes chatting, 20 minutes for the video, and 20 minutes threatening – threatening and negotiating. They all pay.”

He adds, “The weak point of Arabs is sex. So you look for their weaknesses, and you exploit them. The other weakness is when they are married, for example. You can exploit that. Then there are the really religious guys. You see someone who looks like a sheikh, carrying the Koran, and you think, ‘There’s no way he’ll fall for this – but let’s try him anyway.’ And when you try, he falls for it.”

Omar says he earns about $500 (£400) every day from the scam, and that hundreds of other young men in Oued Zem are doing the same.
 
While searching for something different I stumbled on this professional article on sextortion:
The Revival and Rise of Email Extortion Scams | Symantec Blogs (security.com)
Almost 300 million extortion scam emails were blocked by Symantec in the first five months of 2019.
In most of these scam emails, the attacker claims to have a recording of you visiting a porn website, though in some cases the attacker pretends to be a member of law enforcement who has found child pornography on your device.
The big exception to this is the bomb scare emails, where the sender claims to have planted a bomb in your building that will be triggered if the requested amount of money is not paid.

Are these scams successful?
When it comes to the success of these scams, if we examine the 5,000 most-seen Bitcoin addresses in May, we can see that 63 of those wallets received bitcoins in 243 transactions. In total, the wallets received 12.8 bitcoins in that period—at the end of May one bitcoin was worth approximately US$8,300, meaning these wallets received a total of approximately US$106,240. If we take that as an average amount to make in a 30-day period for these kinds of scams, it means they are making just over US$1.2 million in a year ($1,292,586). For the amount of effort and skill that is required to carry out these scams, it represents a pretty good return on investment.
 
In most of these scam emails, the attacker claims to have a recording of you visiting a porn website, though in some cases the attacker pretends to be a member of law enforcement who has found child pornography on your device.
If people are paying up they must have done these things and think paying up is damage limitation.
 
Sextortionists are increasingly targeting younger men and teens on social media, and the victims are increasingly resorting to suicide ...
'Sextortionists' are increasingly targeting young men for money. The outcome can be deadly.

Internet blackmailers are increasingly duping young men and boys into sending them sexually explicit content online by posing as young girls on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram and then extorting them in a scheme known as "sextortion" — and dozens of these cases have ended with the victims taking their own lives, police and child advocates told NBC News. ...

“The FBI is receiving an increasing number of reports of adults posing as young girls coercing young boys through social media to produce sexual images and videos and then extorting money from them” ...

Dozens of boys have reported being “victims of sextortion; mostly for money, although others were reportedly sextorted for additional images,” the agency said in a subsequent news release.

One of those victims was 17-year-old Ryan Last, who lived near San Jose, California. Last died by suicide in February after an extortionist, threatening to post compromising pictures of him on the internet, was demanding more and more money from the teen, his mother, Pauline Stuart, said. ...
SOURCE: https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-n...rgeting-young-men-money-outcome-can-rcna27281
 
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