The Police have received more than 15 reports since September 2018 where victims informed that they had received emails from unknown email accounts or email accounts that resembled their own. The scammers would claim that they had screenshots of the victims watching pornographic materials, and threaten to expose them to their family and friends unless they make a Bitcoin payment.
In some cases, the victims were told by the scammers that their computers had been infected with malware which allowed their online activities to be monitored. There were also cases where the scammers claimed that they had the victim’s email account password, or had obtained the victim’s contacts from social networking platforms, to add a sense of legitimacy to their emails.
Members of the public are advised to adopt the following crime prevention measures:
- Be wary if you receive such emails. Such emails are usually sent from a spoofed email account which may closely resemble that of the victim’s;
- Ignore any instruction to make payments;
- Prevent your email account from being hacked by using strong passwords and enabling the Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) function offers by some service providers;
- Keep your computers and mobile devices’ security up-to-date and protect them with updated anti-virus software; and
- To protect your privacy, cover the camera of your computer when you are not using it.
If you wish to provide any information related to such scams, please call the Police hotline at 1800-255-0000, or submit it online at www.police.gov.sg/iwitness. If you require urgent Police assistance, please dial ‘999’.
To seek scam-related advice, you may call the anti-scam helpline at 1800-722-6688 or go to www.scamalert.sg. Help spread the word and share this advisory with your family and friends to prevent them from becoming the next victim of scam.
SINGAPORE POLICE FORCE
29 October 2018 @ 9:30 PM