What is the “Hello Perv” email scam

“Hello Perv” email scam is classified as a sextortion scam because it falsely claims that users’ computers have been infected with malware that allowed its operators to record private videos of users. The email threatens to expose users’ sexually explicit videos that do not actually exist, which is why it’s a scam email that can be ignored.

 

 

Countless users have received emails claiming that sexually explicit videos of them have been made and they will be sent to all contacts unless they agree to pay money. These sextortion scams have become very common in the last several years. While different sextortion campaigns are operated by different cyber criminals, the sextortion scam emails are usually more or less identical and follow a specific pattern.

Sextortion scams first need to catch the recipient’s attention with an eye-catching subject line. In this case, the subject line is “You are my victim”. The email itself goes straight to the point and claims that the recipient has been visiting pornography websites, which resulted in a malware infection. Supposedly, the malware allowed its operators remote access to the computer. The sender then claims that they were able to turn on the camera/microphone and record an explicit video of the user.

The sender claims to have stolen all contacts and threatens to send the sexually explicit video to all contacts if payment is not made. To make the whole thing even more scary for users, the scammer also claims that they made split screen video, with the user on one side and child pornography on the other.

To not release the video, the scammer demands 500 euros to be paid in Bitcoin. Since the email is fake, paying would be a waste of money.

Subject: You are my victim.

Hello, Perv.
You’ve been looking at porn sites recently .
One at them had my virus on it .
When u started its video, your computer downloaded and launched my malicious software.
After that, I started your camera and recorded a video at u masturbating .
I’ve gathered all its contacts from your computer.
After that, I put together a video at your Masturbation and added videos with child porn.
In my version at its video, u masturbate to sex with kids.

I’m giving u its opportunity to save your life!
Below I will provide u with its address at My bitcoin wallet.

Send me 500 EURO in BTC.

BTC wlt – 1Pdf1QMXH7e9957vhMskAFKQNi79eoa9Rm, 1JVMTup4zuS1JMGXAYYRgvyr2PUmNnY6g2
(If you don’t know what bitcoin / write to buy bitcoin in Google)

You have 24 hours after reading its letter.
As soon as my wallet receives its payment , its system will automatically destroy all its dirt that I made.
If u need more time , open its notebook and write ” Plz 48″
In that case , u’ll have 48 hours to send me its money.
If after a time, I do not see its money in my wallet .
I’ll send my dirt to all your colleagues and friends right away.
I can see everything u’re doing on your computer , so don’t try to trick me.
If I understand that u’re just stalling, I will immediately send dirt on your contacts!
Hurry u have little time, save your life!

Sextortion email scammers mainly rely on scare tactics to force users to pay. Sextortion emails are usually written in a very mocking way, using threatening language to cause anxiety for the recipient. In this particular case, the scammer even claims that they will make it seem like the user was watching child pornography. To users unfamiliar with sextortion scams, such an email is bound to cause alarm, whether they have watched pornography or not.

These types of sextortion emails will always be fake so users can just ignore them.

How did scammers know your email address?

If users suddenly start receiving spam emails, it usually means their email address has been leaked by some service. While users may not be aware of this, malicious actors purchase email addresses and other data from various hacker forums, where the data ends up after being leaked. While sextortion email senders may claim that they got the email address by installing malware on the user’s computer, that is not true. Email addresses are bought from hacker forums.

Sextortion emails also sometimes reveal users’ passwords to alarm them even further. When users recognize their own password, they may start thinking the email’s contents are legitimate because how else if not because of malware would their password be known to cyber criminals? The answer to that is very simple. Passwords are obtained by cybercriminals the same way as email addresses, from hacker forums. If a service stores users’ passwords in plaintext and has inadequate security measures, passwords can be stolen during an attack. The stolen data then ends up on hacker forums for other malicious actors to purchase.

Remove “Hello Perv” email scam

If you receive this email, you can just remove “Hello Perv” email scam from your inbox without paying attention to its contents. You can ignore all other similar emails in the future.