Scam demanding Bitcoin ransom targets residents on Sydney’s north shore
A man was contacted by somebody using his own email address who threatened to reveal his online history and webcam footage to friends and family.
North Shore
Don't miss out on the headlines from North Shore. Followed categories will be added to My News.
North shore residents are being put on alert about a sinister scam involving fraudsters claiming to have obtained a target’s webcam footage and “compromising” online search history.
Police issued the warning after a Lindfield man was sent an email by scammers on Saturday threatening to send defamatory videos and copies of online browsing history to his list of email contacts.
The scammer, who is understood to be based overseas, ended the email with a demand for a ransom payment into a Bitcoin account.
North Shore Police said the offender sent the threat from another email address owned by the victim after managing to hack into the account.
Investigators said the case was “almost identical” to a string of other reported scams across the region this year.
“In this particular instance the message implied that we’ve been watching all the websites you’ve visited including sites a person wouldn’t necessarily want other people to know about,” a police spokeswoman said.
“It also claimed to have obtained webcam footage and that there was no point using a firewall because ‘we’re able to get around it’.
“There was a deadline (for the Bitcoin payment) and in these instances it’s very common for an offender to try and arouse a sense of fear and emergency or use emotion to get their way.”
Investigators said it was unclear whether or not the hacker had obtained webcam footage or the victim’s browsing history.
NSW Police said similar scams earlier this year were suspected to be generated “in their thousands” by offenders scraping limited details they were able to collect from the internet including passwords from old data breaches.
“In most cases if you receive an email there is no reason to be concerned,” police said at the time.
North Shore Police encourage residents targeted by the scam to immediately delete the email.
“The important thing is never to agree to the demands of a scammer. You’re dealing with dishonest people so how do you know paying the money will stop them from exposing you?” the police spokeswoman said.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said there have been 131,615 reports of scams across Australia since January this year.
Victims in 11 per cent of the cases handed over payments, equating to a total loss of more than $106 million over the 10 month period.
Police said investigating scams can be “complex” and often involves a multi-agency response including international police and cybercrime units.
Scams can be reported to the ACCC’s Scamwatch page, police or the eSafety Office.