New York City Police Department has begun looking into reports that online scammers have been blackmailing users to pay them money at the risk of getting their family members infected by the novel coronavirus.
The Daily Beast has acquired an April 20th note that had been circulated between NYPD officers. It warns officers of a nefarious scheme that has been raging on virtually that has been exploiting and abusing the global pandemic for criminal purposes.
Cyber criminals are known to gather bulks of personal information from hacked information. IDs and passwords of hundred thousands of users have are known to be sold and bought online.
With this illegally acquire information, the criminals then start contacting the hacked users. They warn that somehow they will infect the users’ loved ones with Covid-19. Naturally, experts say that there is no way that a virus can be transmitted either via online or only with a few lines of information.
Blackmailing has been around since the beginnings of humanity, yet its form has definitely evolved in the digital era. Officials say that last year, there was a group of crooks who blackmailed people by saying they will release their private videos.
To show that they were not bluffing, the hackers would send an email that outlined the information they had. After threatening that they have access to all the IDs and passwords, the crooks said they have log data and video of the users visiting online porn websites. You can see an example of this mail below:
According to the police, the culprits’ statement that they have access to the users’ webcam feeds are all fabricated. However, the user has no way of feeling certain about this as their email account was already compromised by the hackers.
The NYPD document states that this year’s coronavirus scheme seems to be less successful, as the threats are much vaguer and less likely to be executed. In an interview with the Daily Mail, one NYPD official said that they hope this will raise awareness on this scheme and urged its citizens to not fall for this trap.
If one does receive such email, the police urges not to reply or respond to the blackmailers. NYPD emphasized that just because the hacker has access to one websites IDs an passwords, it does not mean that your entire computer was hacked.
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