Beware of New Tactics of Digital Extortion in Crypto | #hacking | #cybersecurity | #infosec | #comptia | #pentest | #ransomware

Scammers are willing to stoop to some pretty low levels, so when basic deception doesn’t work or isn’t their forte, they’ll use any other technique. Including extortion. One day, you may open a harmless-looking email and find a threatening note telling you how they have intimate photos of you, and they’ll publish them unless you send money. Other cases include blocking all your data, unless you send them Bitcoin —that’s ransomware. And there are more types.

A lot of victims have lost millions like this. According to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), they received 149,686 complaints related to crypto-scams specifically, and $9.3 billion in losses by 2024. That’s a 66% increase in incidents related to the previous year, and also an All-Time High (ATH) figure. The category of “sextortion”, where malicious actors fabricate fake photos and videos to extort someone, showed over $33 million in losses.

Let’s learn more about this topic and how we can fight back.

Common Types of Crypto Extortion

Of course, a favorite of scammers is sextortion. They threaten to leak intimate content, sometimes using fake hacked-password claims or even edited photos. There’s often a time limit to send a certain amount of cryptocurrency, if you don’t want the “leak” to happen. All of this, as it couldn’t be any other way, is fake. The scammer doesn’t really have anything about you.

Ransomware is more common for companies, but it can happen to individuals, too. Actually, in 2017, almost everyone with outdated systems got infected by WannaCry. When you catch this malware, an attacker can lock your files or entire system and demand crypto payments to restore access. This is often not a deception; they really encrypted your system with malware. However, it isn’t recommended to pay. Nobody can guarantee that you’ll recover your files.

Business impersonation scams, which may or may not involve crypto ATMs for payments, are another common tactic. An employee receives a call from somebody claiming to be a company’s manager, owner, or partner. The voice or text seems calm, serious, and in a hurry. There’s a “confidential task.” Money must be withdrawn immediately, converted into crypto, and sent to a wallet address before an important deal collapses. By the time the employee discovers the real boss never called, the funds are gone.

Beyond businesses, scammers can also impersonate lawyers, law enforcement, and governmental entities. They’ll call, saying something like you missed some taxes or duties, and you must pay soon (in cryptocurrency, to a certain wallet) or face prison. This is all fake.

Seminole County Sheriff’s Office’s warning on their Facebook account (Florida, US).

How to Protect Yourself

The good news is that many extortion scams depend more on panic than advanced hacking techniques. Slowing down helps more than people expect, so breathe, think, and apply some preventive measures.

• Never send cryptocurrency because of pressure from a phone call, email, or text message. Scammers love urgency.
• If somebody claims to be your boss, lawyer, bank, or a government office, **contact the real organization through official channels before doing anything.
• Never share your private keys with strangers, no matter what they say or who they pretend to be. Keep them offline, too, outside the reach of malware. In Obyte, you can create a simple textcoin (twelve secret words) to do this.

• Sextortion emails with countdown timers and old passwords are often bluffing tactics. Don’t panic, reply, or pay. This instruction also applies to ransomware.
• Not every type of ransomware has a solution without deleting your files, but you can check if your particular infection has public decryption keys available on No More Ransom. **It’s never advised to pay.
• Keep backups of important files (and private keys) on external drives and cloud services. Ransomware becomes far less destructive when copies exist elsewhere.
• **Install software updates and security patches.**WannaCry spread across outdated systems in 2017 and caused global chaos within days.
• Avoid downloading random attachments, pirated software, or suspicious browser extensions. One careless click can open the door to malware.
• Use two-factor authentication for email, banking, and crypto accounts. Stolen passwords alone become far less useful. In Obyte, you can also create multidevice and multisignature accounts.
• Teach family members and coworkers about impersonation scams. A calm five-minute conversation can save thousands of dollars and a massive headache later.

Remember that criminals will keep trying to steal your crypto, so be extra careful!

Featured Vector Image by Idalba Granada/Vecteezy