A new scam is targeting email inboxes across the country, using publicly available images of people’s homes in an attempt to extort them for thousands of dollars in Bitcoin.
Michael Morimoto, a resident of Robbinsdale, Minnesota, received one of these emails a few weeks ago. The email contained his name, address, phone number, and a PDF with an image of his house, seemingly pulled from Google Maps street view. The message claimed that the scammer had installed spyware on his devices and possessed compromising images and videos, which they threatened to release to his contacts unless he paid $2,000 in Bitcoin.
Morimoto recalls his initial reaction: “Your heart just kind of sinks because there’s always a part of you that thinks, ‘Oh my God, is this real?’ Hackers have gotten so sophisticated.”
Since then, Morimoto has received two more emails from different, random addresses. One of them contained a more direct threat, stating, “You don’t know what I’m capable of in Robbinsdale!”
Cybersecurity expert Sean Lanterman explains that these types of emails are often the work of scammers based overseas and that there is no real compromising content involved. “This email is a modern twist on an old favorite scam,” Lanterman said, adding that such schemes are often the result of data breaches.
He advised that replying to these emails only confirms to the scammers that you’re a real person, which could lead to further harassment.
If you receive a blackmail email like this:
- Do not reply.
- Do not send any money.
- Report the email.
Lanterman emphasized, “Every device with an email function has a built-in solution for emails like this: the delete key.”