Authorities say there’s a new extortion scam you need to know about. Scammers are emailing victims with their password as the headline.
The scammer says they have an inappropriate video of the victim and they’ll send it to friends and family members unless they get paid. The amount could be a few hundred to thousands of dollars.
We spoke with the Minot Police Department’s community outreach officer who says the best defense is to just delete the email and not respond at all.
He says these scammers send out mass emails and if even one percent of people respond, it’s a successful day.
“I’ve personally received an email threatening that they were going to release compromising video of me from my work computer, which didn’t even have a webcam at the time. I kind of chuckled at it, but I understand how it’s scary for someone who might not have ever been exposed to this before,” said Aaron Moss, community outreach officer.
Officer Moss also says this is the first time he’s seen scammers say they have your password. He says one way to protect yourself is to have your computer checked for any unwanted spyware.
