Hyderabad: If you are watching porn on your mobile phone or laptop or a desktop, be prepared to receive an extortion email from hackers demanding Bitcoins for not publicising your browsing data or videos recorded using your own device.
Of late, hackers are trying to trick the denizens by threatening to expose their internet browsing history including that of the porn websites accessed, videos watched and also the videos that are captured by the malware.
Former Bollywood actress Deepti Naval was surprised to receive an email from an unknown source demanding money in Bitcoins and with a threat of publicising her browsing history. She had been browsing various sites and apparently a malware had sneaked in. The threat made her approach the police. Days after, the Hyderabad city police has revealed that six such complaints of sextortion have been received by the cybercrime police in the last one month.
The victims include two women who are in their mid-30s and men, including a teenager. The demand for money was only through Bitcoins and the deadline was just 24 hours.
Not only that, the hackers gained access to the email id and password of the users, stole the data on the devices and sent it via email, as a proof of hacking and security breach of the device.
Sharing details of the recent cases booked by the cybercrime police, a senior police official said, “So far six such complaints have been received from denizens, including two women. The hackers have sent emails, threatening to publish the victim’s browsing history, including that of the porn website they visited and the videos they watched on that sites.”
Each email had similar content, like the amount of money, which was 0.74 Bitcoin valued at about Rs 3.9 lakh, and the threatening message, except that the email id and the password of the individuals changed.
“It is believed that while the users browse the porn sites, a malware gains access to the device. It collects details of the email id and password which every smartphone user has to use to access mobile applications.
The malware also collects the browsing history of the user which the hacker uses to extort money. It also operates the camera of the mobile phone or laptop in the background and shares the videos with the hackers.” said the official.
He said that, however, none of the victims deposited money as the demand was in Bitcoins.
The hackers are suspected to hail from Nigeria and are testing the process of cheating. “It seems like an attempt by the hackers to move ahead in the scam. If any individual had replied, the crooks would have extorted the money,” the official added.
