Blackmailers’ bogus threat to ‘reveal’ victims’ porn use
BLACKMAILERS are threatening to reveal people’s alleged pornography use to friends and family unless they pay cash.
The Garda Fraud Squad is investigating numerous cases of the attempted extortion, senior sources reveal.
Hundreds of Irish email users have been targeted in the recent scam.
The email, from an unknown user, claims to have made a recording of their target accessing porn websites. The email references individuals’ email passwords – and claims it has access to all their contacts.
The email demands a sum of money, $977 in bitcoin, be transferred or else they will send the alleged computer camera recording of the victim watching porn.
However, no such recording exists. The scammer has simply found thousands of email addresses and the associated password on a database of old usernames from a past data breach.
The email sent out is generic. The criminals hope that of the hundreds targeted in Ireland, some will panic and pay up.
A security source said: ‘This is a particularly nasty scam. There is no video of people targeted watching porn.
‘These criminals just hope that if they target enough people in this scam, some will have watched porn and panic and pay up.
‘There have been numerous complaints about this email to gardaí in the fraud squad in recent weeks. People are a bit baffled and have been calling to say they haven’t accessed porn in the first place. But they are concerned that their passwords have been accessed. Of course, gardaí believe many more people have been targeted but did not contact gardaí about this. Some will simply recognise it as a scam but some may have handed over the money. We want people to know this is a scam and please report it to us.’
It is understood that gardaí are making ‘progress’ in tracking those responsible and are working with police internationally.
The email states: ‘If you are thinking of going to the law enforcement officials, well, this email cannot be traced back to me… If I do not receive the bitcoin I will definitely send your video to all of your contacts, including close relatives, co-workers and so on. However if I do get paid I will destroy the video immediately… This is a non-negotiable offer.’
Security sources say there are ‘real concerns’ about the impact the email could have on a vulnerable person.
In 2015, Co. Tyrone schoolboy Ronan Hughes was blackmailed by a criminal who threatened to send intimate images of him to his friends if he did not pay a €3,000 ransom.
The Romanian criminal, Iulian Enache, who is in his 30s, had tricked him into sending the photos by posing as a girl. Despite Ronan pleading with his tormentor: ‘I’m only 17 years old, please, I beg,’ the photographs were sent to five of his friends.
Hours after some of the pictures were shared online, Ronan took his own life.
In September 2017, Enache pled guilty in a Romanian court to blackmailing the teenager and producing/distributing indecent images of a child. He was sentenced to four years in prison.
It followed an extensive joint investigation by the Police Service of Northern Ireland and Romanian authorities that spanned several countries, and involved the input of Europol and Britain’s National Crime Agency.
After months of painstakingly piecing together transcripts of Skype communications and the online activity of the ‘happy-golucky’ Irish teenager and the man posing as ‘Emily Magee’, the PSNI’s cyber-crime unit traced the PC used in the sting.
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