By James Peters

New scam extorts victims over alleged porn-viewing habits: Kamloops RCMP

Jul 24, 2018 | 2:44 PM

KAMLOOPS — RCMP are warning about a new scam in which the fraudster tries to extort the innocent person over his or her alleged pornography viewing habits.

Cpl. Jodi Shelkie says in this scam, the mark receives an email stating the scammer has proof he or she has been watching porn.

“The fraudster threatens to email this proof to all of the contacts on that person’s email account unless the person pays $7,000 in Bitcoin,” said Shelkie. “What’s alarming is, in many of the cases, the scammer actually does have the person’s correct email password.”

Shelkie says it’s a good reminder for everyone to switch up their passwords on a regular basis.

“What we want to tell people is that they should ignore the email. Change your password immediately and, most importantly, do not pay money in Bitcoin or any other form of payment,” said Shelkie.

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“So far, nobody has been taken advantage of with this scam — that we know of — here in Kamloops. But again, it is quite alarming that they know what their password is for their email account.”

As for whether the marks for the scam have actually been viewing pornography, Shelkie says in many cases, the answer is actually “no.”

But she adds just the suggestion to friends and colleagues that they may have been partaking in adult material may be enough to scare people into complying with the scammer.

“They’re just randomly sending this out. Many of the people have not viewed pornography. But of course, most people are concerned that, even if they haven’t viewed it, if they send it out to all of their email accounts, somebody will believe that they have,” said Shelkie. 

“So that’s quite frightening to some people.”