Cryptocurrency blackmail scam email: 'Brain Walker'

Cryptocurrency blackmail scam email: 'Brain Walker'

With news stories of hacking into credit card companies, Facebook accounts, email accounts, computers and cell phones being hacked and more, scammers are busy trying to take advantage of fears of being hacked. While it certainly is possible to have all of these hacked, many scammers simply prey upon consumers' fear of being hacked to extort their victims into surrendering money. The FBI is seeing an increase in the number of reported extortion attempts, claiming your device has been hacked. In one recent month, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center, or IC3, received an additional 13,000 complaints about the extortion scam over the previous months. Extortion occurs when someone threatens to distribute your private and sensitive material if you don't pay a ransom fee, usually by Bitcoin. The scammers may claim they used your webcam to record you or installed software to record websites you visited. None of that is actually true. They probably got your email address  from a recent data breach at your bank or other institution. .So, they may really know one of your old or recent passwords, and they include it in the message to prove it. They hope that will scare you into paying them the blackmail.

Here is a common, and unfortunately, popular example of this.

The email

A victim receives an email similar to the one below. In this email, the scammer claims:

1. He hacked into your device (computer, tablet, phone). He says that allowed  "your browser initiated working as a RDP that has a key logger which gave me access to your screen and also web camera"
2. His software "collected your complete contacts from your Messenger, Facebook, as well as emailaccount"
3. He activated the camera on your device and recorded you watching porn and created a split screen video of you and the porn.
4. He can tell that you read the email
5. He can't be traced.

After making these claims, he then issues his threats: you pay him by bitcoin or he will send the video to everyone in your contact list.

 

Example scam email:

Below is a recent report from a consumer of one scam. Notice one obvious sign of a scam: the name: "Brain" and obvious misspelling of "Brian", which no one named Brian would make!

I've recently been scammed and lost a total of $3,000 in process. I understand that the chance of retrieving my money is thin but I would be grateful if you can catch the scammer; as a result, preventing future occurrences. This all started on May 31, 2020, at 12:55 am when I applied for the position of a 

Receptionist/Administrative Assistant  at  International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies on indeed.com. The company responded on Mon, Jun 1, 7:56 AM, and what occurred after I'll brief it. The person gave me the position, sent two checks to my address told me to deposit it. 24 hours after the funds were available in my account. I did errands for him and days after, the first deposit was returned leaving my account below zero dollars. The reason being "Altered or Fictitious" which was further confirmed by the banker. If you need more information please feel free to ask.

 So far the following information is what I have:

- Name:                 "Brain Walker"

- Cell #:                  19207772043

- Email addresses: internationalfederationof6_oky@indeedemail.com,

                               swalkerbrian10@gmail.com,                                    

                               brinwalker101@gmail.com

- Zelled $500:         267-528-9545, Adebolaji AdeBayo

Message from Brain:

"Here is what you need to do , Please go to the nearest USPS Postal Office close to you and purchase a USPS Postal money order for $2500 . Once you have it , Please locate the nearest Bank Of America Bank Branch . Fill the money others with the below details and deposit it to the account details.

Bank Name : Bank Of America
Account Name : ONYEBUCHI JOHNSON OPARA
Account Number  : 38104668292

Please deposit the money order to the account and send me a picture of the receipt given to you after the deposit."

More info from the victim:

-Additional information I requested and received from Brain: 6130 alma rd, Mckinney tx 75070.

-Another number to do a bitcoin transaction given by Brain:

Thank you for your assistance. If you need more details about what transpired I'll be willing to share. I contacted you because of these red flags and suspicions along the way.

 Regards,

Tricia

The truth

Notice that except for your email address, all of the information is vague, general and definitely not specific to you. Notice also that he provides no proof or evidence of his claims. It's pretty obvious that if you were to attempt to extort someone like this, you would provide at least a brief clip of the video you claimed to have to prove that you could follow through. This is an obvious sign of the scam nature.  Of course, if you don't visit porn websites, then you would also obviously know immediately this is a scam. Unless of course, you believe you watch porn in your sleep ("somnapornography" )

While all of the claims are theoretically possible, it would take a pretty sophisticated scammer to achieve this.  And a scammer like that is not going to target individuals; they'll go after corporations and bigger targets.

Variations

Some versions of the scam, like the one above, include one of the recipient's real passwords as "proof" that their claims are true. Criminals are sending emails and letters using their victims' authentic personally identifiable information to make their claims appear legitimate.  How did they get your password? Most like they bought a list of usernames and passwords on the "dark web" from other hackers from a data breach like the ones you've heard about in the news: Experian, Yahoo, Wells Fargo, etc.  Which means they are using a cut and paste program to send out thousands, or even millions of the scams.

What to do

• First, do NOT reply to the scammer.

• Do NOT pay the scammer.

• Never send compromising images of yourself to anyone, no matter who they are or who they say they are.

• Do not open attachments from people you do not know.

• Turn off your electronic devices and web cameras - and cover or physically disconnect web cameras when you are not using them.

• Report the scam to the FTC: www.FTC.gov/Complaint.

• Report the scammer to Bitcoin (see below)

Report the scammer to Bitcoin

How To Report a Bitcoin Scam, Blackmail, Extortion or Theft:

1. Create a free account on Bitcoin (you need this to report a scam to them; it costs nothing and you don't need to give them any sensitive information; just an email address so they can get back to you)

2. Then login on Bitcoin

3. Enter the bitcoin address in the box on this page

4. Then click the "Report Scam" button on the page that comes up in step 3 (not here) (it looks like this: )

If you are receiving sextortion threats, you are not alone. The FTC has been warning about these scams for years.  The FBI says in many sextortion cases, the perpetrator is an adult pretending to be a teenager, and you are just one of the many victims being targeted by the same person. If you believe you're a victim of sextortion, or know someone else who is, the FBI wants to hear from you:

Contact your local FBI office (or toll-free at 1-800-CALL-FBI).

Next, the FBI recommends that if you have experienced this situation please notify the IC3 by filing a complaint.

If the email contains information that identifies you personally (other than your email address alone; for example, address, complete name, etc.) you should contact your local or state police and local FBI office.

If you also forward a copy of the emails you receive here, we will examine them as well.

 

To see many other versions of the porn extortion scam, click here.

 

 

 

For a comprehensive list of national and international agencies to report scams, see this page.