Online Extortion Scams Increasing During the COVID-19 Crisis
NJCCIC Advisory
Original Release Date: 4/22/2020
Summary
The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) has seen an increase in reports of online extortion scams during the current "stay-at-home" orders due to the COVID-19 crisis. Because large swaths of the population are staying at home and likely using the computer more than usual, scammers may use this opportunity to find new victims and pressure them into sending money. The scammers are sending e-mails threatening to release sexually explicit photos or personally compromising videos to the individual's contacts if they do not pay. While there are many variations of these online extortion attempts, they often share certain commonalities.
This FBI PSA provides scam commonalties and offers tips to protect yourself in guarding against the persistent malicious actions of cyber criminals.
Reporting
The NJCCIC encourages recipients who discover signs of malicious cyber activity to contact the NJCCIC via the cyber incident report form here.
The NJCCIC is a component organization within the New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness. We are the State's one-stop-shop for cyber threat analysis, incident reporting, and information sharing and are committed to making New Jersey more resilient to cyber threats by spreading awareness and promoting the adoption of best practices.
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