Blackmailers threaten to publish compromising pictures. The blackmailing comes unexpectedly. Extortionists and victims never had any previous contact.
Fake sextortion scams are widespread. The scammers claim to have collected photos or video recordings showing the recipient visiting pornographic websites. They threaten to release the material unless a ransom is paid by a specified deadline. These threats are a bluff and the emails are sent in bulk in the hope of scaring someone into paying. In these cases, the victim's computer is not infected and the accounts mentioned have not actually been hacked.
Scammers are always using new tactics to make their bluff more believable. To make the scam more convincing, scammers fake the sender address to make the email appear as if it’s coming from the recipient’s own email account. In many cases, the scammers also use information, such as passwords, phone numbers, or addresses, from publicly known data breaches.
Ignore such messages.
Specific measures
Preventive measures
How the NCSC can help
Further Information
- Ignore fake sextortion emails and report them to your email provider as spam.
- If the blackmailers mention a password you use, change it immediately wherever you use it.
- Forward fake sextortion emails to reports@stop-sextortion.ch. This supports investigations.
- If you have suffered a financial loss, we recommend that you report it to the police. You can find your nearest police station on the Suisse ePolice website.
- Use a different, strong password for each online service.
- You should always enable two-factor authentication (2FA) for services that offer it. This will increase the security of your data considerably.
- Your report helps the NCSC identify trends. This makes it possible for the NCSC to raise public awareness in a targeted way.
- It helps law enforcement to do their job if they know the crypto wallet addresses that were used.
Last modification 15.04.2024
