Protect Yourself and Report the Latest Frauds, Scams, Spams, Fakes, Identify Theft Hacks and Hoaxes
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With news stories of hacking into credit card companies, Facebook accounts, email accounts, cell phones being hacked and more, scammers are busy trying to take advantage of fears of being hacked. While it certainly is possible to have all of these hacked, many scammers simply prey upon consumers' fear of being hacked to extort their victims into surrendering money. The FBI is seeing an increase in the number of reported extortion attempts of a sexual nature; what's known as sextortion. In one recent month, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center, or IC3, received an additional 13,000 complaints about the sextortion scam over the previous months. Sextortion occurs when someone threatens to distribute your private and sensitive material if you don't provide them with images of a sexual nature, sexual favors, or money.
Here is a common, and unfortunately, popular example of this.
A victim receives an email similar to the one below. In this email, the scammer claims:
After making these claims, he then issues his threats: you pay him by bitcoin or he will send the video to everyone in your contact list.
From this email address (may be spoofed): Romola Wofsy <txderrikazo@outlook.com>
-------- Forwarded Message --------
Subject: I FOUND NAKED IMAGES OF YOU! Date: Fri, 22 May 2026 20:35:39 -0400 From: your email address To: your email address
Hello!
Unfortunately, there is some bad news for you.
Some time ago, your device was infected with my private Trojan, R.A.T. (Remote Administration Tool).
If you want to find out more about it, simply use Google.
My Trojan allowed me to access your files and accounts.
Check the sender of this email; I have sent it from your email account!
To ensure you read this email, you will receive it multiple times.
I HAVE FOUND NAKED IMAGES OF YOU ON YOUR DEVICE AND HAVE MADE A BACKUP OF THEM!
After that, I removed my malware to leave no traces.
If you still doubt my serious intentions, it only takes a couple of mouse clicks to share the images with your family, friends, relatives, all email contacts, on social networks, and the darknet.
All you need is $500 USD in Bitcoin (BTC), transferred to my wallet address.
After the transaction is successful, I will proceed to delete everything.
I keep my promises!
You can purchase Bitcoin (BTC) from reputable exchanges here:
http://www.coinbase.com - Payment options: Credit/Debit Cards, Bank Transfers, PayPal (in some regions).
http://www.binance.com - Payment options: Credit/Debit Cards, Bank Transfers, P2P trading, third-party payment providers, and gift cards.
http://www.bitrefill.com - Payment options: Paysafecard, credit/debit cards, crypto, bank transfer, and other gift cards.
http://www.crypto.com - Payment options: Credit/Debit Cards, Bank Transfers, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and more.
http://www.kucoin.com - Payment options: Credit/Debit Cards, Bank Transfer, third-party payment providers, and P2P.
http://www.etoro.com - Payment options: Credit/Debit Cards, Bank Transfers, PayPal.
http://www.kraken.com - Payment options: Bank Transfers, Wire Transfers.
Alternatively, simply Google for other exchanges.
Once purchased, you can send the Bitcoin (BTC) directly to my wallet address or use a wallet application such as Atomic Wallet or Exodus Wallet to manage your transactions.
My Bitcoin (BTC) wallet address is: 1NXeVuYtcVgt5657Hg6qJS8FQS
Yes, that's how the wallet address looks. Copy and paste my wallet address; it's case-sensitive.
A piece of advice from me: regularly change all your passwords and update your device with the latest security patches.
Message-ID: 369365
Notice that except for your email address, all of the information
is vague, general and definitely not specific to you. Notice also
that he provides no proof or evidence of his claims. It's pretty
obvious that if you were to attempt to extort someone like this, you
would provide at least a brief clip of the video you claimed to have
to prove that you could follow through. This is an obvious sign of
the scam nature. Of course, if you don't visit porn websites,
then you would also obviously know immediately this is a scam.
Unless of course, you believe you watch porn in your sleep ("somnapornography"
While all of the claims are theoretically possible, it would take a pretty sophisticated scammer to achieve this. And a scammer like that is not going to target individuals; they'll go after corporations and bigger targets.
Some versions of the scam, like the one above, include one of the recipient's real passwords as "proof" that their claims are true. Criminals are sending emails and letters using their victims' authentic personally identifiable information to make their claims appear legitimate. How did they get your password? Most like they bought a list of usernames and passwords on the "dark web" from other hackers from a data breach like the ones you've heard about in the news: Experian, Yahoo, Wells Fargo, etc. Which means they are using a cut and paste program to send out thousands, or even millions of the scams.
First, do NOT reply to the scammer.
Do NOT pay the scammer.
Never send compromising images of yourself to anyone, no matter who they are or who they say they are.
Do not open attachments from people you do not know.
Turn off your electronic devices and web cameras - and cover or physically disconnect web cameras when you are not using them.
Report the scammer to Bitcoin (see below)
How To Report a Bitcoin Scam, Blackmail, Extortion or Theft:
Create a free account on Bitcoin (you need this to report a scam to them; it costs nothing and you don't need to give them any sensitive information; just an email address so they can get back to you)
Thenlogin on Bitcoin
Then click the "Report Scam" button on the page that comes up in step 3 (not here) (it looks like this:
)
If you are receiving sextortion threats, you are not alone. The FBI says in many sextortion cases, the perpetrator is an adult pretending to be a teenager, and you are just one of the many victims being targeted by the same person. If you believe you're a victim of sextortion, or know someone else who is, the FBI wants to hear from you:
Contact your local FBI office (or toll-free at 1-800-CALL-FBI).
Next, the FBI recommends that if you have experienced this situation please notify the IC3 by filing a complaint.
If the email contains information that identifies you personally
(other than your email address alone; for example, address, complete name, etc.)
you should contact your local or state police and
local FBI office.
If you also forward a copy of the emails you receive here, we will examine them as well.
To see many other versions of the porn extortion scam, click here.
For a comprehensive list of national and international agencies to report scams, see this page.