Indian Cybersecurity Authority warns about ongoing email scam seeking ransom

India’s central cybersecurity agency has alerted Internet users against the ongoing fake email scams. The scammer seeks ransom from victims by threatening to post a personal video that he recorded.

Indian cybersecurity authority has warned that Internet users against the ongoing series of fake emails scams. According to the cybersecurity authority, the scammers are seeking ransom in cryptocurrency by threatening to publish a personal video of the victim. The Computer Emergency Response Team of India (CERT-In), in its latest advisory, said that there is nothing to worry about such scam emails, but advised users to update their email and social media passwords, if they find them compromised. 

Authority advises against paying the ransom

The advisory noted that in the email extortion campaign, the scammers had sent numerous emails to people stating that they recorded a video of them using the webcam, and they know their passwords. The scammers also threatened the victims claiming that he would post the personal video on their social media accounts and set it to all their contacts. However, the agency notified that there is nothing to worry about such scams, and there is no need to pay ransom to such scammers. The scammers mostly get the list of emails and passwords of potential victims from data breaches. 

The agency listed the contents of a typical extortion email. 

The Computer Emergency Response Team of India is the national technology arm to protect the cyber-space, listed the contents of a typical extortion email. According to the advisory, firstly, the scammer would try to grab the victims’ attention by mentioning their old password in the mail. And then, the scammer would make up a story containing computer jargon to convince the victim that the scammer is a very skilled hacker. 

The advisory further stated that the scammer would then say that he had installed malware on a porn website, and while the victim accessed the website, he recorded the video using the webcam. The advisory mentioned that this could be the final step before seeking ransom. The agency advised against paying the ransom to such scammers as the claims they made are not true. 

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