Fraudsters began to blackmail victims with non-existent intimate videos – Kommersant

Kaspersky Lab has detected the fraudulent distribution of hundreds of letters threatening victims to send intimate videos to family and friends. Experts note that the innovation is the use of confidential information of recipients: names, phone numbers, tax identification numbers, email addresses and other information. The information could have been obtained from various leaked databases.

Andrey Kovtun, head of the email threat protection group at Kaspersky Lab, told the newspaper about the new fraud scheme “Vedomosti”. In letters to potential victims, scammers warn that the device has been hacked and provide confidential information as confirmation. They claim to have gained access to the device’s camera and microphone and can record video, screen record, and view websites the person has visited.

Fraudsters threaten to send intimate materials to close victims. However, the video itself is not in the letter. As a ransom, the attackers demand $700 in Bitcoin within 48 hours.

Alexey Sizov, head of the anti-fraud department at Jet Infosystems, noted that the fraudulent scheme involving blackmail with intimate videos has existed for quite some time. An Angara Security representative called such emails typical of spam messages, which are filtered through email settings.

About the work of the Russian Federation and Belarus against telephone scammers – in the material of Kommersant “Belarus hangs up”.

Leonid Uvarchev