The Internet is filled with various scams that swindle unsuspecting victims by making false claims. However, since the start of 2018, a new brand of scam has been circulating around the internet.
Victims of this scam receive emails that threaten to release compromising images of them if they don’t pay up. Security experts dubbed these intimidating emails as the Blackmail Porn Bitcoin Email Scam. In this article, we will discuss why these threats are only a scam and how you can remove Blackmail Porn Bitcoin Email Scam from your computer.
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Blackmail porn or sextortion is the phenomenon of blackmailing people after acquiring compromising images of them. Cybercriminals use Remote Access Trojans (RATs) to turn on the webcam of victims and access it remotely.
These criminals then record the victim through the webcam without the person, even knowing about it. In some cases, they can acquire nude images or videos of victims and can even record them engaging in intimate actions.
In other cases, hackers might record people when they are masturbating while watching porn. These hackers then use these images and videos to extort money from their victims.
In 2014, a college student named Jared James Abrahams was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison for the same offense. The convict was spying on women via their webcams and extorted money by making threats of making them public.
Although recent reports indicate that sextortion is on the rise, these threats are not always true. Many scammers pretend to be real hackers and use threats to coerce people into giving them money.
The Blackmail Porn Bitcoin Email Scam is just another example of false intimidation tactics used by scammers. It uses a spam email campaign to send countless emails to internet users, demanding money from them.
Usually, the email states that your computer has been infected with malware that tracks your web browsing activity. It also claims that whenever victims visit an adult website, their camera starts recording them and consequently, acquire footage of them masturbating to adult videos.
The email then threatens to make those videos public and ruin the social lives of victims. It even exploits the social stigma against pleasure and chastises the victims for their ‘perversions.’ Ironically, the scammer does this when he himself is extorting money.
At the end of the note, the scammer demands a payment ranging from $500 to even $2000. The victim has to send this amount in the form of a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin. The extortionist enlists an anonymous Bitcoin address, where he can receive money. Most people prefer bearing a financial loss rather than risking humiliation, so they give in to the scammer’s demand.
If you’re concerned about being recorded on your webcam, then no.
In most cases, all of the things mentioned in this email are nothing but a pack of lies. It is not uncommon for people to receive these threats even if they don’t have a webcam and don’t watch porn.
Many victims panic whenever they receive such emails and don’t think with a clear mind. They don’t realize that if the cybercriminal had such images or videos, he would share some of them as proof. If the victim doesn’t panic, it is easier to see that the scammer is lying.
However, some of these scammers are smart and use additional tactics to ‘prove’ their claims. They may show you one of your old passwords and claim that they hacked it from you as proof. Most likely, this will not be true as cybercriminals acquire these passwords from old data breaches.
Other times, these criminals will show you your contact number as proof. Again, these are also acquired from third-parties that sell data and not directly from the victims themselves. The malware from these emails will only pester victims with fake threats and will do no harm to your computer.
Even if these criminals managed to infect your computer with a phishing application, they could never use the software to record you in compromising states. So, there is no reason to believe them. The best the scam can do is record your browsing history and nothing more.
However, users are still at risk of getting attacked by hackers that actually all the things the scam is claiming to do. The FBI has issued several warnings against the rise of sextortion, in recent times.
Besides that, advanced phishing viruses do have the ability to acquire your passwords and steal banking credentials. So, they can easily swindle money from you and pose severe threats to your privacy. Users should always stay wary of dubious emails and should delete them without opening any of their attachments.
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| Name of Software | Blackmail Porn Bitcoin Email Scam |
| Type | Scam/Phishing application |
| Danger Level | The Blackmail Porn Bitcoin Email Scam is not a virus on its own but a scam that extorts money. However, if the email contains scripts for a phishing application, the scam can be highly dangerous.
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| Symptoms | The Blackmail Porn Bitcoin Email Scam operates in the limelight, and issues threats openly. However, advanced phishing applications have the ability to operate secretively, and there’s no way to detect them without a security tool. Users can witness unauthorized online purchases along with a stream of notes demanding extortion. |
| Distribution Method | Usually, these scams use spam email campaigns to threaten different users at the same time. Sometimes, scripts for the scam can be bundled along with free software and services on the internet. It can also be present on corrupted links of an adult website and can install itself on your computer if you click it. |
| Detection Tool | The Blackmail Porn Bitcoin Email Scam does not require any detection tool itself. However, It’s true that some viruses can record your activities through your webcam. Therefore, you do need a reliable antivirus solution to detect other harmful programs in your system. TotalAV antivirus is the best detection tool to identify and remove all kinds of viruses. It is an all-round antivirus solution and opposed to the Blackmail Porn Bitcoin Email Scam; it actually does what it claims. Download the antivirus solution by visiting the company’s website download page. |
Follow the steps below to remove the Blackmail Porn Bitcoin Email Scam program manually.
First of all, you have to restart the computer in Safe Mode. Running the computer in Safe Mode allows users to remove all existing problems effectively.
The Safe Mode can prevent start-up programs; corrupt hardware drivers; and malware programs from disturbing malware removal. The following method instructs how you can restart your device in Safe Mode in Windows 10:
Open the run command interface by pressing “Windows Key + R” simultaneously. After that, type “msconfig” to open settings.
Once the system configuration opens, click on the Boot option available in the top section of the window.
After that, select the checkbox beside the label “Safe Boot,” click on “Apply” and select OK.
Once you select the Safe Boot option, a System Configuration window will pop up to ask permission for restarting the device. Choose “Restart” and wait until the computer turns back on.
After the system reboots, press keys “Ctrl + Shift + Esc” simultaneously to open the taskbar. There you’ll be able to see which programs and are putting on your system memory.
Just click on the Details tab if you are using Windows 8 or 10 or the Processes tab if you’re using Windows 7. Since a suspicious application might be running multiple processes in the background; it’s important to shut down each task. Select individual processes and then press End Process.
Ending individual processes won’t be helpful unless you remove the entire application from your system. Open the Control Panel and press shortcut keys “Windows Key + R” simultaneously to open the run command interface.
After that, look for Blackmail Porn Bitcoin Email Scam among the applications installed on your device. Press the right-click button on the program you want to remove and select Uninstall.
While the Blackmail Porn Email is just a scam, there are other security threats that are very real. Even if a hacker doesn’t record your actions through your web camera, he can easily record your internet activity by introducing malware in your computer.
These hackers can steal your password and banking credentials through advanced phishing methods. This information can later be used to swindle money and hack your ID on social websites to extract private images and videos. Moreover, they can use phishing applications as a backdoor to ransomware, which is later used to lock down your computer.
To stay protected from these cyber threats, install a reliable antivirus solution on your device. Installing TotalAV antivirus on your computer will ensure that you don’t get affected by any of these viruses.
First of all, open your web browser, type “TotalAV download” in the address bar, and hit Enter. After that, click on TotalAV’s official website in the search results. Download the free version of
the application clicking on “Download Now.”
Click on the downloaded file named “TotalAV_Setup.exe” the bottom left of the screen to start the installation.
Select the “Install” button on the resulting window and choose ‘Yes’ when the operating system asks for your permission. After that, wait until the installation process completes.
After that, the installation set up will start downloading critical updates to be prepared against all latest threats.
After the setup completes, restart the operating system by clicking ‘Yes.’
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Although you shouldn’t be scared of misleading scams like Blackmail Porn Bitcoin Email, it’s not wise to take cybersecurity lightly as well. We advise you to install the TotalAV antivirus to ensure that sensitive information doesn’t get leaked to cybercriminals. Download TotalAV now and be safe from all kinds of viruses in the future.
Victims of this scam receive emails that threaten to release compromising images of them if they don’t pay up. Security experts dubbed these intimidating emails as the Blackmail Porn Bitcoin Email Scam. In this article, we will discuss why these threats are only a scam and how you can remove Blackmail Porn Bitcoin Email Scam from your computer.
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