29th October, 2018 Tonga’s National Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT Tonga) under the Ministry of MEIDECC is advising the public to be aware of scams that claim they have information on hacked emails and devices. This advice was released through an advisory from CERT Tonga distributed through their distribution list and uploaded to their website (https://www.cert.to/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Hacked-Email-Scam-Advisory.pdf)
CERT Tonga has received a number of reports from the public regarding received emails blackmailing recipients to pay various amounts of money from $300 to as much as $4,000 bitcoins.
The source of the email claims they have hacked the recipient’s email or device and they have access to the history of adult websites they have visited including screenshot and pictures taken from their webcam. The emails sender then threatens to send this information to his/her contacts if the demanded amount is not paid.
Hacked Emails and Webcam Scams appear as;
- The scammers send an email making it look like it’s from their own email address and account claiming that they have hacked that email account.
- Email sometimes includes a known password from one of the victim’s online accounts. The known password information has been obtained from previous data breaches from online service providers.
- The email also contains the amount to be paid in bitcoins and the bitcoins wallet to pay the demanded payment to.
CERT Tonga recommends the public not to pay any amount and to report the incident to CERT Tonga on 2378 Tonga Police on 922.
Users are also advised that if they do receive known passwords on email to immediately change all passwords for accounts that the password was used on.
ENDS
For more information please contact Tonga National CERT; Ph.: 2378; Email: report@cert.to