‘@Part num your Hacked phone$ xx’ email scam tries to blackmail victims
A new sextortion email scam shows you part of your phone number, claims to watch you, and tries to blackmail you for bitcoin.
Beware of an email message that claims someone has been watching you through your device and made a video of you through your camcorder (camera).
The email shows you partial digits of your phone number and claims to have recorded you through your device. The email says “I am in aversion of your raunchy fantasies” and “You enjoy, I record video.”
The purpose of the email is to frighten the target enough to pay the scammer a demanded amount of Bitcoin (to BTC wallet: 1AjgBp2S3GuD9pyySTZWgqsBpixDNosbDU or other). For example, the email says that “If YOU don’t transaction” and “I share this unexpected of your sexuality fantasies. With yours contacts!”
This might frighten some people, especially since partial digits of their phone numbers are shown; However, this is just another sextortion scam that has been in circulation, so do not pay the scammer.
If you received an email message that says “It seems that, part num your phone” (or other), ignore it. The message is fraudulent, your device has not been hacked, and no one hacked your email account.
Email message campaigns like this have been making circulation following recent breaches that occurred on websites like LinkedIn and Adobe. To see where your email information may have been leaked from check out https://haveibeenpwned.com/. You can input your email address to locate where your information was leaked.
Here’s what is written in the email message:
Subject: @Part num your Hacked phone$ xx[last 2 digits of your phone number]
From Alert 65076
Reply-To Alert 65076
It seems that, xx[last 2 digits of your phone number], part num your phone.I watcher your device.
I am in aversion of your raunchy fantasies!
I made video from your camcorder from yours devices.
You enjoy, I record video.
I made fill-in your contacts and files.
I want 844 $ to my )Bitcoin
My ^Bitcoin billfold
1AjgBp2S3GuD9pyySTZWgqsBpixDNosbDU
If YOU don’t transaction (Bitcoin. I share this unexpected of your sexuality fantasies. With yours contacts!
If you do not know how to do this – enter into Google)
(how to transfer money to a Bitcoin/ wallet%
You Have Time – 38 hours.
You see grammatical mistakes? Yes! I do this special, to not find me. All post & facebook have analyze writing style.
As you can see, the email can appear legitimate to many people. But, the same exact message has been sent around the internet to many people and there have been many campaigns like it in the past. For example, a previous email claims that a hacker cracked your email account. If you have never visited an adult website, you will still receive the same message. If your device does not have a camera, they will still claim to have recorded you through your camera.
In conclusion, do not pay BTC to the scammer and do not reply to the fraudulent email message. The only thing you need to do is change the password to your email address and other accounts you have for safe measure.
The email message does not mean that your computer is infected with malware; However, if you would like to scan your computer for malware and other potentially malicious files from your computer we recommended to use Malwarebytes. Here are some instructions to do so:
1. Download Malwarebytes Anti-Malware software to scan your computer and remove malicious files and potentially unwanted programs.
2. To install the program, click the file you just downloaded. It can usually be located in the Download folder.
3. A window that says “Welcome to the Malwarebytes Setup Wizard” will appear. Click Agree and Install to begin the installation. Once complete, click Finish.
4. Now the Malwarebytes is installed, open the program and click the Scan Now button – or go to the Scan tab and click the Start Scan button.
3. When the scan is complete click the Quarantine Selected button.
4. If Malwarebytes says “All selected items have been removed successfully. A log file has been saved to the logs folder. Your computer needs to be restarted to complete the removal process. Would you like to restart now?” click the Yes button to restart your computer.