How to Tell If Sextortion Email is Real

It’s actually pretty easy to tell if a sextortion email is real or not. The simple answer is it just doesn’t contain any real concrete proof from cyber criminals or have any photos or anything. Think here because your privacy may have been compromised. and its a form of online extortion.  They will try and put fear into you.    

How a sextortion email works. Many times you will get them out of the blue. You will get a sextortion scam email address that claims they have pics, other images or video of you doing something sexual in nature. Then they tell you in the email, if you don’t pay them a certain amount of money they will release the video of you to your friends and family members and your contacts.   

If this is real it can be devastating for those who are involved. This can really mess with someone and make them just about lose their mind. Worst part is you don’t even know exactly what pics or videos they have.

Many will run to law enforcement and we are not saying that is bad. 

You start to think, was my computer really compromised? Did they really give you signs and steal an attachment images or is this some internet scams? just take our advice and we’ll show you.     

And other than saying they have evidence on you they want anywhere from $300-$800 dollars to make it go away and worse yet you don’t have anything to give.

Sextortion scams run rampant online from cyber criminals, especially from data breaches.  If you have been part of one then there are steps you can take to fix everything and stop them from getting any photo.

The truth really is though most Sextortion emails are phishing scams developed online.    

Claims Scammers Make To Get You To Respond

These people in sextortion data breach cases will claim many things and they are usually lies and just using fear tactics. They will claim they have:

1. Entrance to your webcam or videos
2. All of your contacts
3. Your laptop and or home router

If you have never run a security check on your router, then it’s possible a hacker could crack into your system. But again it doesn’t mean they have actually broken into your PC and have financial information and you might want to get law enforcement involved. 

How Did The Hacker Get Access to Devices?

It is very possible cyber criminals or hackers has gained admission to your personal information. Where there signs, and the way they do this is via malware that’s loaded on your PC. You may visit a website and its loaded on your device. 

Not protecting your hardware is how actual identity theft occurs. They are always counting on the victim to pay their ransom fee.  

Sextortion Via Email Spam or Virus or Social media 

Another way they get in to everything is by phishing emails. They will send you what’s called a trojan horse attached to an email. This allows them to gain backdoor to your system so they can steal your info. Many emails are just phishing scams trying top social engineer your details. So never show any response. 

Phishing Emails

Phishing emails recipients are very common today. Its where a sextortion scam artist will will send an email that s looks like it was from a real bank or some other legitimate company. The email will then as you to usually click a link and share you information with them. Do not fall for these types of scams.

Ransom     

Stolen Password

On the Dark Web passwords are sold that these scam artists steal from them. Places like that are filled with embarrassing content that’s been stolen from others all over the world.  

Your Contacts

They get intel is from your list and by searching your emails. This is a very common how they get very personal information. And it may take them a while but they can find very juicy parts of information about someone.

Protecting Yourself From Sextortion Emails

We’ve talked about how it happen and how cyber criminals gain access to your information. Now let’s switch gears and talk about how to protect yourself. Remember they are always looking for money with things like bitcoin.   

1. Always use two factor authentication – Always using this type of security technology will stop anyone from getting your stuff 
2. Use an antivirus app – Use a quality antivirus protection on your PC to make sure you never get compromised
3. Never install a thumb drive without scanning its content first

Hide your pictures and video into a folder that is encrypted. Don’t just leave attachments in email especially if you have pics you don’t want anyone to see.  Always grab these pics from your email and place them in. 

Use strong passwords on any computer you own and change them regularly. You need to do this because software can always change and steal your passwords.  

Never Pay Anyone Online You Don’t Know

Never pay sextortion scammers who are asking, even if you think they have something real. They may be the real deal and have real information. But if you pay them you will become a target for them and they will continue asking. But many times the sextortion email addresses includes old information, completely outdated. Sextortion scams happen all over the internet daily from emails to someone visiting adult websites. If you find yourself the victim of an email sender scam, today will show you what you need to do. Do not pay in gift cards or bitcoin or regular cash.   

When a victim pays the ransom they quickly find out it was the wrong thing to do. 

Contacting The FBI

The FBI authorities is there to help Americans who fall victim to scams like these, you have to do is contact your local FBI office. However, there is little the federal bureau of investigation will do for a small crime and or a crime coming from out of the United States of America. Still your could report it to them and see if they could help you.  

Make sure to save your sextortion emails so you can show all the threats you have.  But again the FBI encourages you to be proactive and protect all with good antivirus software. Make sure and check with your email provider.   

Why Did I Receive This Sextortion Email?

Many people ask the question, why did I receive such an email from a random person? The answer is they want money!

Also, about 45% of all emails on the internet are spam.   

And they think sending out a message over and over again is work. They send out hundreds of emails daily and create many victims who have their accounts compromised. 

It’s really not your fault, these scam people just pick randomly and do not care who they hit.  Just always be sure to secure your other personal information. Protect your passwords, messages, any payment you make and other data.     

Data Compromising 

Another reason you get sextortion emails, is because of compromising from the dark web and staff on companies compromising it. According to the crime complaint center and the your local fbi office says, you need to be cautious when connecting online. These people can even get your phone numbers.  

These breaches of compromised accounts are by far one of the quickest ways they gain way to from individuals and businesses.

You can count on Digital Investigation to help you sort out any emails you have received! Please let us know if you have any questions for a specialist.