Warning about a recent e-mail scam seeking Bitcoins transfer

https://www.ottawapolice.ca/en/news/index.aspx?newsId=dfb9532e-22ab-432c-a3a5-ab2ee3b48db4

(Ottawa)—The Ottawa Police Service Organized Fraud Unit has recently received several public complaints of an emerging e-mail scam and is advising the public not to respond to these e-mails.

With this scam, people are receiving a personal e-mail from an anonymous sender. The e-mail advises that their password was captured by malware and the sender actually provides the captured password to the potential victim.

Investigators believe that the e-mail address and password are likely obtained by the fraudsters from a website previously used by the recipient. Some complainants have informed police that the password was actually an old one that they have not used in years.

In the e-mail, the sender informs the potential victim that they have video recorded their activities while they were visiting pornographic sites and further threatens to release the said video to the recipient’s contact list if a quantity of Bitcoins are not transferred to a specific Bitcoin account within one day.

The Ottawa Police Service advises the public not to reply to these e-mails. Furthermore, the following prevention tips are suggested:  

• Make sure not to use the same password for all of your internet activities;
• Change your password(s) regularly;  
• Make sure to have valid antivirus and malware software and perform regular scans.