Sextortion Scammers Attempt to Hit “Close to Home”

We live in a world where, despite the sharing of information online, we feel like those interactions will never reach home.  But a new scam – covered on WTSP Tampa Bay’s Channel 10 news – demonstrates how scammers will use personal details to throw the victim into a panic when extorting them for money.

According to news reporter Nick Volturo, he received an email providing personal details and a picture of his home (likely from Google Street View), asking for $1950:

Source: WTSP Tampa Bay Channel 10 News

But this story also fell close to KnowBe4’s home in Clearwater, FL.  In the story, Erich Kron, Security Awareness Advocate at KnowBe4 was interviewed about the scam. He mentioned how scams like these are intent on preying on the victim’s emotions, providing enough details to scare them into paying to “make it go away.”

As with every phishing attack, proper education of what these emails look like and what to do with them (in this case, simply delete it) is critical to minimize the likelihood of becoming a victim.  Organizations can ensure their employees are educated to reduce the risk of a successful scam or worse – the beginnings of a cyber attack – through new-school security awareness training.

KnowBe4 empowers your workforce to make smarter security decisions every day. Over 70,000 organizations worldwide trust the KnowBe4 platform to strengthen their security culture and reduce human risk.