Email sextortion scams are on the rise and they're scary — here's what to do if you get one

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Overall, extortion by email is growing significantly, according to the FBI's Internet Crime Compliant Center (IC3). Last year, these complaints rose 242% to 51,146 reported crimes, with total losses of $83 million.

"The majority of extortion complaints received in 2018 were part of a sextortion campaign in which victims received an email threatening to send a pornographic video of them or other compromising information to family, friends, coworkers or social network contacts if a ransom was not paid," according to the FBIDimitri Vervitsiotis | Photodisc | Getty ImagesAnother has a victim's real password in the subject line, in an attempt to establish authenticity.

While the FBI does not break out sextortion from the total number of extortion crimes reported, a spokesperson told CNBC, "The majority of extortion complaints received in 2018 were part of a sextortion campaign in which victims received an email threatening to send a pornographic video of them or other compromising information to family, friends, coworkers, or social network contacts if a ransom was not paid.

I am well aware [REDACTED] is your pass words. Lets get right to point. Neither anyone has paid me to investigate you. You may not know me and you are probably thinking why you're getting this e-mail? His company has looked at bitcoin wallets associated with criminals perpetrating these schemes, Kleczynski said, where criminals ask victims to send what are often unusual sums -- $514, $607 and $618 in three recent examples. Apparently they spark enough panic to net the criminals $10,000 to $20,000 per week, according to Malwarebytes research.

But it's all fake. The only reason it works so well, Sopori said, is because "People, especially young people, have come to believe there's no such thing as privacy anymore." This belief leads people to assume that anyone can spy on them at any time, or can even misuse their information to create the appearance of impropriety where it doesn't exist.

 

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While there are examples of real sextortion, especially involving the theft of real nude photos or videos, hoax sextortion emails have no basis in reality. The power of shame influence the extortion practices and its income generation techniques.

What about the devices that the military an the states prison system has provided these rich people that are extorting all of us

They might also be using FB messaging as well. The message starts with a comment that says, 'I can't believe I saw you in a video like this,' with an attachment. Until this article I understood it to be a Trump supporter and didn't open fearing a virus in the attachment.

Stop hiring anyone that’s not family

I don’t see them

DONT FALL FOR IT

tell the truth!

Don't have an affair or kinky sex on film LMAO

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