Litecoin is the sextortion flavor of the month

[CryptoBry]

Sextortion is getting more popular and can soon be ingrained into our consciousness and our online experiences. I am hoping you are not one of the growing victim of this another form of a blackmail. So what is sextortion, anyway?

Sextortion is a form of revenge porn that employs non-physical forms of coercion to extort sexual favors from the victim. Sextortion refers to the broad category of sexual exploitation in which abuse of power is the means of coercion, as well as to the category of sexual exploitation in which threatened release of sexual images or information is the means of coercion. Source.

Just like ransonware, sextortion find it very convenient to demand money from their victims via cryptocurrency like Bitcoin but now they found an alternative darling and it is Litecoin.

Sextortion phishers are pivoting away from Bitcoin to alternative cryptocurrencies to avoid being caught by email filters. In particular, some sextortionists now rely on Litecoin, as major email providers automatically flag suspicious emails that feature Bitcoin wallet addresses.

Sextortion phishing scams have plagued inboxes for well over a year. They typically claim malware has infected recipient’s machines to record webcams and naughty browsing habits, demanding Bitcoin in exchange for not leaking that data to the world.

To add authenticity, the emails often include sensitive information, such as email passwords, believed to have been sourced from any number of major online data leaks. Source.

One thing for sure, people can get so creative in finding ways and means to fool others and victimize them out of their hard-earned money and they will not stop until they are caught by authorities (which can be so hard to do, by the way). Now, they are also into cryptocurrency making the operation easier and convenient and I assumed with wider reach.

Is there anybody here who experienced being (or who know someone who was) a victim of sextortion and was asked to pay in Bitcoin or Litecoin?

[Red-Apple]

i don't understand how this is even called "sextortion" because the meaning of the word is when someone is blackmailing you for "sexual" acts. as in "have sex with or they will reveal your secrets". so there is no money involved. if it is then it  can only be called plain extortion.

in any case it is very odd to use litecoin and i have never had heard it before. they either use fiat or bitcoin and if they wanted an alternative thing they would use a real anonymous coin such as monero.

[Vitamin_52]

i don't understand how this is even called "sextortion" because the meaning of the word is when someone is blackmailing you for "sexual" acts. as in "have sex with or they will reveal your secrets". so there is no money involved. if it is then it  can only be called plain extortion.

in any case it is very odd to use litecoin and i have never had heard it before. they either use fiat or bitcoin and if they wanted an alternative thing they would use a real anonymous coin such as monero.

and if there is nothing to hide, why use a coin like monero? they chose litecoin and it's good for them and for lazdona. perhaps if everything functions normally prices will rise a little

[Bttzed03]

i don't understand how this is even called "sextortion" because the meaning of the word is when someone is blackmailing you for "sexual" acts. as in "have sex with or they will reveal your secrets". so there is no money involved. if it is then it  can only be called plain extortion.

From the OP:

They typically claim malware has infected recipient’s machines to record webcams and naughty browsing habits, demanding Bitcoin in exchange for not leaking that data to the world.

My guess is that they target users watching some porn or doing some virtual sex or whatever related to that.

[ecnalubma]

Not to encourage the sextortionist’s but they could have use privacy coins instead. Typically not all web users are aware of this kind of cyber spying. The number of victims will continue to increase but It can be prevented if they know the danger of patronising adult sites.

[bvg96634]

I hear about this for the first time. I mean, these scammers demand cryptocurrency from their victims. It seems to me that my friend was telling me something like that.

[poornamelessme]

My guess is that they target users watching some porn or doing some virtual sex or whatever related to that.

They don't actually target folks watching porn, just hacked emails. One of my spam emails was hacked ages ago (I noticed weird messages I never sent in my sent box).  Not a biggie, since it was a junk email, but kind of annoying.

And this same spam address got one of those porn scam type of emails a little while after the hacking. I'm not sure of the type who falls for such scams... I guess older folks or just those overly paranoid. The amusing thing in my case was how the email mentioned things like how it was recording during the 'act' and so on.

Besides not visiting porn sites, my pc doesn't even have a camera. It'd be quite the technical achievement to record someone without a camera.

[YuginKadoya]

This is something that can be done by hackers now phishing the private data of an individual and making it as the key for blackmailing them and they are using Litecoin as a source of Anonymous transaction for them, I guess if there are people that are experiencing this they surely need to report this to the authorities this is criminal acts that are violating people and using their private video to gain financial wealth,

I think there is an online site that you can watch pornographic content when you pay Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, But this is surely illegal and needs to be reported, pretty sure there are people that are victimized by this kind of fraudulent schemes.

[CjMapope]

While i give u kudos for an interesting topic (or PSA if u will), i dont really get how people fall victim to this haha

-If you don't have anything to be weary of a hacker finding, ignore the emails, they are bluffing.
-If a person doesn't trust in their own ability to secure their machines against attackers, they should stop going to shady places on the internet   

Seems pretty simple to me anyways

Also, it makes sense they are using LTC, its quick and easy to get/send 

[styca]

No, I've never heard of litecoin or any alts being used in these circumstances. It is always bitcoin as far as I am aware. I think the targets for these activities are a huge range of people, way more than are familiar with crypto. Everyone has heard of bitcoin, not many people amongst the general public have heard of alts. I don't think that the criminals would use litecoin - bitcoin would serve their purposes well enough.

[Saint-loup]

Sextortion phishers are pivoting away from Bitcoin to alternative cryptocurrencies to avoid being caught by email filters. In particular, some sextortionists now rely on Litecoin, as major email providers automatically flag suspicious emails that feature Bitcoin wallet addresses.

This is highly surprising... Litecoin has the same format address as Bitcoin. Except in the new format address. But Litecoin addresses in the new format are still classical P2SH addresses, it's just a matter of writing.
https://cryptofacilities.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360006040974-Litecoin-Address-Format

[poornamelessme]

While i give u kudos for an interesting topic (or PSA if u will), i dont really get how people fall victim to this haha

-If you don't have anything to be weary of a hacker finding, ignore the emails, they are bluffing.
-If a person doesn't trust in their own ability to secure their machines against attackers, they should stop going to shady places on the internet  

Seems pretty simple to me anyways

Also, it makes sense they are using LTC, its quick and easy to get/send  

I'm guessing older folks or just really dumb people fall for scams like this. I've had older relatives ask me if they should click certain popup buttons or open emails ... all obviously scams to anyone who has any experience using the internet. But I guess to some folks, they don't know any better.

One thing this scam does is use a password associated with the email account. It's pretty sneaky. So to the uninformed, "Oh no, somehow this email knows everything about me, maybe they did activate my camera and record me while I visited <whatever porn site>"

I wished I kept the email sent to me in one of my spam accounts, I'd post it here. It's pretty devious. I mean, obvious it's a scam to most folks, but I could see older people or idiots falling for it.

Edit: And this article explains it and has a similar type of email sent out:

https://blog.malwarebytes.com/cybercrime/2019/02/sextortion-bitcoin-scam-makes-unwelcome-return/

[livingfree]

in any case it is very odd to use litecoin and i have never had heard it before. they either use fiat or bitcoin and if they wanted an alternative thing they would use a real anonymous coin such as monero.

They use bitcoin and I've personally saw the email from those people who have received it that were new to this. Good thing that they chose to ask first before sending the asking amount of these scammers.

I haven't seen too that an email like that asks for Litecoin because with all of those reports that I've seen on social media, they were all asking for bitcoin and not for Litecoin.

They don't actually target folks watching porn, just hacked emails. One of my spam emails was hacked ages ago (I noticed weird messages I never sent in my sent box).  Not a biggie, since it was a junk email, but kind of annoying.

Those people that have reported this admitted that they were not into watching porn so you're right. These were random emails that they've got on the web and collected it on their own database. But if the receiver is guilty, this will put fear to him.

[Pearls Before Swine]

Interesting indeed, especially the reason why litecoin is being used instead of bitcoin, though I'm sure the extortionists could demand any coin they want.

No, I've never been a victim of this.  I am probably one of the rare guys who isn't into porn and not much into sex in general, so you can bet I've never made a video or taken pictures of myself in anything compromising.  That's why people, women especially, should be careful about doing that kind of stuff.  One never knows where those photos or videos are going to end up.  An extortion attempt sucks, but maybe even worse would be to have it all over the internet where it can't be removed.  I'm not sure which is worse.

[ajeef]

No, I've never heard of litecoin or any alts being used in these circumstances. It is always bitcoin as far as I am aware. I think the targets for these activities are a huge range of people, way more than are familiar with crypto. Everyone has heard of bitcoin, not many people amongst the general public have heard of alts. I don't think that the criminals would use litecoin - bitcoin would serve their purposes well enough.

Litecoins is usually used for transfering balance between exchanges because it has a fast speed of transaction and low fees.
People are unknown with crypto altcoins is 3-4 years ago before bitcoin reached all time high, but nowdays people knowing the alts and other cryptocurrency even it's not as famous as bitcoin

[poornamelessme]

Interesting indeed, especially the reason why litecoin is being used instead of bitcoin, though I'm sure the extortionists could demand any coin they want.

No, I've never been a victim of this.  I am probably one of the rare guys who isn't into porn and not much into sex in general, so you can bet I've never made a video or taken pictures of myself in anything compromising.  That's why people, women especially, should be careful about doing that kind of stuff.  One never knows where those photos or videos are going to end up.  An extortion attempt sucks, but maybe even worse would be to have it all over the internet where it can't be removed.  I'm not sure which is worse.

If you check out the malwarebytes link I provided (or google search it, in case you are suspicious of links here)  about this, you'll see how it's not even related to watching porn in the first place, at least not directly.

I received two such emails ages ago, and I haven't been visiting porn sites. However the spam email I was using had previously been hacked.

That's what they are targeting, hacked emails where the culprits know the password. So then they start off their demands with 'Hey, we know your password is 'whatever' ... and then we hacked into your computer, stole your contacts, and used the pc camera to record you and so on.

I'm sure there are instances of folks being extorted whose private info was actually stolen or recorded (Black Mirror has an excellent episode in regard to this, by the way). But that's not what this type of scam is, it's more of a blanket spam email to hacked email accounts -- the scammers have no idea if their target has viewed porn or not.

[maxreish]

So, a malware infect your computer that can access and see your activities like opening a webcam and watching porns? There is nothing to worry about if you are not doing such pathethic things like nude actions. However, sextortion is very popular nowadays. A simple picture can ruined your life, if you'll gonna be affected with the blackmails they are sending it to you. Why do they choose litecoin? I'm just wondering.

Blackmailers are hi-tech nowadays. I just want to advice that do not be afraid. There is a thing called, "CYBERCRIME LAW". Seek help from the right authorities is the appropriate steps to this.

[cosmofly]

One thing for sure, people can get so creative in finding ways and means to fool others and victimize them out of their hard-earned money and they will not stop until they are caught by authorities (which can be so hard to do, by the way). Now, they are also into cryptocurrency making the operation easier and convenient and I assumed with wider reach.

Is there anybody here who experienced being (or who know someone who was) a victim of sextortion and was asked to pay in Bitcoin or Litecoin?

Sorry but I only knew this. This is really a pretty clever form of extortion that the law could not find out who it is. That is also the reason why governments always prohibit the development of cryptocurrencies.
After these incidents, we should use reputable websites and do not access strange links. Viruses can steal our information.

[Cakalasia]

I hear about this for the first time. I mean, these scammers demand cryptocurrency from their victims. It seems to me that my friend was telling me something like that.

Then you should tell to your friend  what will be the consequences if they continue doing this.
is your friend the one who asking for money or the one giving a video to unknown person?

[NathanJB]

One thing for sure, people can get so creative in finding ways and means to fool others and victimize them out of their hard-earned money and they will not stop until they are caught by authorities (which can be so hard to do, by the way). Now, they are also into cryptocurrency making the operation easier and convenient and I assumed with wider reach.

Is there anybody here who experienced being (or who know someone who was) a victim of sextortion and was asked to pay in Bitcoin or Litecoin?

Sorry but I only knew this. This is really a pretty clever form of extortion that the law could not find out who it is. That is also the reason why governments always prohibit the development of cryptocurrencies.
After these incidents, we should use reputable websites and do not access strange links. Viruses can steal our information.

If the government will prohibit the development of cryptocurrencies simply because of this, they are citing a very shallow reason. They need to come up with a more convincing alibi or just be honest and state that they are truly afraid of crypto in that it might kill their fiat.

Well, this case is existing even without crypto. It so happens that some criminals prefer Bitcoin and crypto over fiat. Probably because of the anonymity that it features. But it is very wrong to think that these crimes will proliferate due to crypto development. That is absurd.