Scam Alert: ‘Sextortion’ Emailers Learn How to Evade Spam Filters

Porn fans, and even internet users who are not big viewers of adult content, have frequently found themselves targeted by scammers who claim to know their porn-watching habits—and will keep them a secret for a price. In fact, the “sextortion” scams have become so familiar that many email platforms have become adept at screening out the scam emails, and dumping them into the spam folder. But a new crop of “sextortionists” appears to have figured out a way to keep their toxic emails out of the spam filter, and deliver them straight to unsuspecting users, according to a report by the tech site Bleeding Computer. One common method used by the scammers behind the new wave of emails is simply to author the spam emails in a foreign language—usually Russian. That way, an English-speaking user’s email spam filter fails to spot any of the keywords that would cause the email to be filtered out as dangerous spam.  The emails, as shown by Bleeding Computer, come with a header in English imploring the recipient to “use google translator."  If a victim takes the bait and runs the Russian text through Google Translate, he or she finds an ominous message. “The last time you visited a pornographic website with young teens, you downloaded and installed automatically spy software that I created,” the translated email claims, as quoted by the UK news site Metro. “My program turned on your camera and recorded the act of your indignation and the video that you observed during the indignation,” the emails warn. “I have a video file with your masturbation and a file with all your contacts on my hard drive.” The scam email then threatens to automatically fire off the “video file with your masturbation” to every contact in the victim’s email address book—unless the recipient pays about $900 worth of BitCoin to a specified address. The scammers also threaten to create and release entire Powerpoint presentations consisting entirely of the victim’s “moments of joy.” But the scammers also have a recommendation for their victims. “Limit yourself once a month if you cannot completely switch to NoFap,” the Russian emails say, referring to the online movement that advocates complete abstinence from masturbation. Photo By Colin / Wikimedia Commons