Have you ever received an email displaying that the sender has injected malware into your PC? If not? Then, don’t feel that you are safe and will not receive it in the future also. Being a part of the digital world, you can get such or even more threatening emails showing that the owner has hijacked your webcam to capture photos of you and can misuse them on adult websites. With it, the bullying email incorporates demand of paying a ransom in form of bitcoin. The sender also claims that if you don’t make the payment, he/ she will share your photos or videos to several contacts on your device and even on social media sites.
As per McAfee Antivirus Support experts – you can easily ignore such emails but the circumstances developed by the scammers will prevent you from doing so. Actually, they will state that they have really stolen your password & can prove it. They’ll do this by including the email with a password you have set and used in past or might be using currently.
What is Cyber Blackmailing?
As the name itself implies, cyber blackmailing is a type of scam where the scammers try to extract money from the internet surfers. From past few months, a major rise in the number of such scams has been seen. Hence, it becomes necessary to be careful and avoid being victim to cyber blackmailing.
The surveys conducted by McAfee Tech Support mavens report that the scammers using this technique to gain income has made near about $50,000 in just a week in July 2018.
What to Do in Case of Receiving an Email Sent to Execute Cyber Blackmailing?
- Don’t panic & evade paying the ransom: Unfortunately, if anyhow you receive a cyber blackmailing email, be calm. Don’t forget that it is just a scam & the hacker (sender of email) has not injected anything on your device. Moreover, he/ she doesn’t have any photo or image that identifies you. Hence, don’t panic, ignore the email, and be strict for not paying the ransom.
- Change your password: If the received email includes the password you are having currently, modify the password, avoid using the same key for your other accounts, & enable the two-factor authentication. Try to create the strongest password by combining characters, numbers, signs, and symbols.
- Check and ensure if your email address or other details have been leaked: Most of the times, the data breach facilitates the scammers to locate your credentials. Thus, there is a need to check if your email account is undergoing any data breach. If yes, be quick and change the passwords of all your online accounts.
Conclusion: Cyber blackmailing scams are the simple tactics used to cheat people and take out money from them. If you receive any such emails, avoid paying the ransom, check your password, & execute checking of your email address or other credentials to detect if they have been leaked. For complete peace of mind, focus on installing a proven antivirus software.
McAfee Support experts wish you a threat-free digital experience!
