{"id":268337,"date":"2018-07-15T08:32:55","date_gmt":"2018-07-15T06:32:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=268337"},"modified":"2018-07-15T08:34:16","modified_gmt":"2018-07-15T06:34:16","slug":"beware-whatsapp-sextortion-scam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/security\/268337-beware-whatsapp-sextortion-scam.html","title":{"rendered":"Beware WhatsApp Sextortion scam"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Many South African men are being threatened by\u00a0blackmailers who state they will share nude photos of them online unless they pay up.<\/p>\n<p>According to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.netwerk24.com\/Nuus\/Algemeen\/is-jy-lus-vir-moeilikheid-meneer-20180714\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Rapport newspaper<\/strong><\/a>, numerous men have fallen victim to the scam over the last three months.<\/p>\n<p>The scam, which is conducted via WhatsApp, goes as follows:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>An attractive woman contacts a man via WhatsApp and sends them erotic photos of herself.<\/li>\n<li>She then asks the man for nude photos of him in return.<\/li>\n<li>When she receives nude photos, she demands money &#8211; with the threat of making the photos public.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Private investigator Mike Bolhuis told Rapport he has handled over 30 cases of blackmail using this tactic this year.<\/p>\n<p>Bolhuis said the initial blackmail amounts start at between R500 and R1,500, but it can escalate &#8211; and some of his clients have paid over R50,000 to date.<\/p>\n<p>He said that in most cases the blackmailers are men who use a woman\u2019s photos without their knowledge.<\/p>\n<p>Bolhuis said he is not aware of a case where a woman has fallen for this scam.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\">Sextortion scam<\/h3>\n<p>This type of scam is not new.\u00a0In 2015, security firm <a href=\"https:\/\/www.trendmicro.com\/vinfo\/us\/security\/news\/cybercrime-and-digital-threats\/sextortion-in-the-far-east-blackmail-goes-mobile\"><strong>Trend Micro<\/strong><\/a> said Sextortion has been around for many years.<\/p>\n<p>The cybercrime victim is tricked into performing sexual favours online and then the attacker blackmails the victim by threatening to expose the explicit recorded videos, pictures, and chat conversations.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBecause this triggers instant shock and shame, the victim is often left with no choice but to pay the hefty sum,\u201d said Trend Micro.<\/p>\n<p>In 2016 and 2017, hundreds of South Africans fell victim to a <a href=\"https:\/\/highwaymail.co.za\/247191\/naked-pics-for-cash-victims-urged-to-come-forward\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>naked pics for cash<\/strong><\/a> scam.<\/p>\n<p>The South African Community Crime Watch said in January 2017 the victims were contacted by an attractive woman or man via Facebook and WhatsApp.<\/p>\n<p>The scammer then offers to send them naked pictures of themselves if they receive nude pictures from the victim.<\/p>\n<p>If the victim refuses to send naked pictures, the scammer sends them Photoshopped images that depicts the victim, with threats that they will be made public unless a payment is made.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\">Sextortion scam warning<\/h3>\n<p><a  data-lightbox=\"post-image\" href=\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sextortion-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-268345\" src=\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sextortion-1.jpg\" alt=\"sextortion\" width=\"640\" height=\"607\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sextortion-1.jpg 800w, https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sextortion-1-422x400.jpg 422w, https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sextortion-1-768x729.jpg 768w, https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/sextortion-1-453x430.jpg 453w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\">Now read:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/software\/267831-whatsapp-now-labels-forwarded-messages.html\">WhatsApp now labels forwarded messages<\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Many South African men are being held to ransom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":168223,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[1271,2594],"class_list":["post-268337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-security","tag-scam","tag-whatsapp"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268337"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=268337"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268337\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":268347,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268337\/revisions\/268347"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/168223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}