Scams of all types continue to be a problem for local citizens. Lately we have seen an increase in blackmail and romance scams.
Blackmail scams usually originate with an email or message via social media. The scammer may pose as a completely random contact or may be someone who poses as a potential romantic partner on social media.
The “blackmail” part of the scam will begin with the scammer threatening to expose some form of private content such as webcam recordings, internet history, private photos or any other supposed secret the scammer has on the victim.
The scammer often fabricates evidence to make the threat sound more credible. Some of the tricks they use are to pull information about the victim from the internet such as full name, address, photos of the victim and or their residence, old passwords or stolen personal identifying information. The scammer will then attempt to create urgency by demanding an immediate payment and threatening the victim with exposure, arrest by law enforcement or other embarrassment. Scammers particularly like to make the victim feel like they may have committed some type of crime to discourage the victim from contacting legitimate law enforcement for assistance.
Scammers will probably ask for payment in some form of gift card, cryptocurrency or wire transfer. Often, we see scammers targeting elderly citizens, however this scam happens to all ages and sometimes they actually focus on teenagers knowing that younger generations often have a more active social media presence and photographs stored on devices.
Unfortunately, there have been an number of teen suicides attributed to the threats by these types of scams. I encourage parents to talk to their kids about being able to report these types of threats even if there is a fear of punishment or embarrassment.
If you or someone you know is the victim of this type of scam, I want you to have the confidence to deal with it. Scammers are bluffing about the information they threaten to expose, as doing so would create more chances that they could be tracked. Please consider reporting any scam to law enforcement or directly to the FBI at https://www.ic3.gov/.
At a very minimum, cease all contact with the scammer and block any messages they are sending. If you believe they may have remote access to a device, seek the help of a verified IT professional in person to remove any viruses or spyware on your device.