An email in Irish, coming from a South Korean email address, claims the sender has a video of the receiver viewing pornography and will make it public unless paid €1200 in bitcoin.
These sort of “sextortion” letters are nothing new, we’ve warned about several like this and this before, but we’re always excited to see the scammers making the effort of constructing them in Irish language, as we’ve showcased before here, here and here.
The latest one looks like this:
And the English translation says:
Final warning! All your data was copied. The login was successful.
Greetings. Your system is compromised by the Trojan virus. It entered your device through the adult portals you visit. Some racy videos have malicious code that acts after being posted. All data has already been copied to my servers. I have full control over the device you have access to on the Internet. I can see your screen, use your microphone and camera. You won’t notice it accordingly. I’ve already done a screen recording. I have edited a video of the pornographic video you were watching at the time and of your masturbation. Your face is perfectly visible. I don’t think that kind of content is good for your reputation. I have full access to your contacts and profiles on social networks. I can send this video from your email or messenger. If you don’t want this to happen, all you have to do is take a simple step. All you have to do is transfer 1200 EUR (euros) to your bitcoin wallet (in the bitcoin equivalent at the exchange rate at the time of transfer) You will find instructions on how to do it on Google. Upon payment, I will remove the video and virus from your device. After that, no one will bother you again. If I do not receive the payment after this period, all your details and the video will be published. I give you 2 business days. I will be informed once you have read the email. A timer is activated immediately. It’s not worth complaining anywhere, not even to the police. My wallet and post office cannot be found. If I find out that you have shared this message with someone else, the video will be distributed immediately. I will destroy your reputation forever and all your details will be made public. The whole world will know about your passion for porn sites and more. No good to change the passwords, because all the data is already on my servers. Don’t forget that reputation is very important and be sensible.
It is important to note that most of these sextortion letters are bluffs and the sender doesn’t actually have anything. These mails are just spammed out to millions of email addresses in hope someone will bite. You should not respond to such emails, but instead flag them as spam and warn your friends not to fall for the scam, if they also receive something similar. If however in some cases the extortionists do have something and offer proof, they should be reported to An Garda Síochána’s Cyber Crime Bureau.
written by Urban Schrott, ESET Ireland
ESET Ireland 