Carl Leonard, principal security analyst at Forcepoint, said cyber-extortion was a prevalent tactic today. While it largely takes the form of ransomware, he said data exposure threats were growing in popularity.
“Cyber-blackmailing continues to prove as an effective tactic for cybercriminals to cash out on their malicious operations,” he said. “In this case, it appears that a threat actor group originally involved in adult dating scams have expanded their operations to cyber-extortion campaigns as a result of this trend.”
If this type of scam email makes it through the spam filters into your inbox, do not click on any links, do not reply, and delete the message (or click on the Phish Alert button). Do not download any software to check your computer for viruses, but follow procedure to report these types of criminal emails.
Remember: Think Before You Click. It is more important than ever these days.