Why sextortion scams are concerning and how you can fight them

Have you come across an email from an unknown sender claiming to have captured your webcam feed while you were visiting an adult website and that if you didn’t pay up, the video will be shared with your family members, friends and colleagues? The attacker would also claim that they have access to your complete contact list from Facebook, Messenger and Email. To make the threat sound more convincing, the email would casually mention the username and last few digits of the password of one of the social media accounts or websites you subscribed to.

This a common modus operandi used for what is widely referred to as a sextortion scam, where attackers prey on fear and embarrassment to coerce targets into paying money in Bitcoins. In fact, a SophosLabs’ investigation, published April, shows that cyber criminals have made almost half a million US dollars in profits between September 2019 and January 2020 through sextortion campaigns.