Woman knew blackmail email was a scam 'because I'm religious and don't watch porn'

Thursday, 2 August 2018

Napier woman Kim Saber received a threatening email which demanded she transfer $4000 worth of Bitcoin into an account or footage of her watching pornography would be exposed - but she knew it was a scam as she is a Christian and has never done so.

Saber, who lives in the suburb of Marewa, knew it was a scam 'straight away' because of her religious beliefs.

'We don't watch porn and I have a really good relationship with my husband. I mean, we work together, play together, do everything together, so I knew it was bullsh..,' she said.

Saber printed off a copy of the email, which was sent to her about July 21, and warned her neighbours about it.

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'I went to the mum next door that's got two teenage boys, because that's very easy. They come home from school and go on the internet, so she gave them a big lecture.'

When Saber went to the police, she was told they had received 'hundreds' of similar complaints.

'I was really shocked. But then I got angry … because I'm not engaged in porn.'

Saber was worried for the elderly, and other 'naive' people.

'The easy person that could be got is the person that's quietly having a bit on the side and hasn't told their wife, or when their wife's out they've had a sneaky peek at some pornographic site,' she said.

'They would be really worried, and they would pay the money.'

Netsafe's director of technology and partnerships, Sean Lyons, said the email scam often included an old password which had likely been ascertained from a data leak.

'Because the threatening email includes personal information included in the email, it may cause people to be worried or unsure about the email threats,' Lyons said.

CERT NZ's (Computer Emergency Response Team's) incident manager Erica Anderson said scams where people claimed to have access to webcams tended to go through spikes.

'We know that scams like this prey on people being too embarrassed to seek help, so we assume that the reports we've received are only the tip of the iceberg.'

In the 'multiple' reports CERT NZ had received, the email included a previous password the victim had used, and claimed the victim visited an adult website.

The scammer claims 'to have turned on the victim's webcam and recorded what was happening'.

The scam was different from previous ones because of the use of the password, Anderson said.

'In reality, the scammer gets the password from one of the data leaks that have been posted online. They are taking advantage of finding this data leak and are trying to pretend they have access to your computer.

'We can't confirm if video recordings actually exist, or if it's an opportunistic scam. We haven't had any reports of scammers releasing a video when a ransom isn't paid.'

Police said in a statement that it had received reports of the scam from 'several victims'.

It is unknown exactly how many people have been affected or whether the scam is localised.

Anybody who received the scam should phone police.