What is the “Hello My Perverted Friend” sextortion email scam

“Hello My Perverted Friend” email is classified as a sextortion scam because it claims users’ computers are infected with malware and threatens to release a private video of them unless they agree to pay. The contents of the email are all false. Users can ignore the email completely and they certainly do not need to pay the requested money.

 

 

“Hello My Perverted Friend” email scam is a classic sextortion email. These emails have become very common in the last several years, with different scammer groups launching sextortion campaigns. While the text may differ in these emails, they all more or less follow the same pattern. Sextortion scams try to catch users’ attention with alarming subject lines or first lines. In this case, the line is “Hello, my perverted friend”, which is bound to alarm most users. Scammers create a story about how the user’s computer was infected with malware to pressure users into making payments.  The malware supposedly allows them to take remote control of the computer and make explicit videos of users. Scammers then threaten to send the videos to all contacts if a payment is not made.

This particular “Hello My Perverted Friend” sextortion email claims that a “hacker” was able to infect your computer with a trojan. The hacker supposedly accessed all data on your device and remotely turned on the microphone and camera. This supposedly allowed them to record you watching pornography. The sender also claims to have stolen all contacts and threatens to send the video to them unless you agree to pay $890 in Bitcoin.

It goes without saying that paying anything would be a waste of money because the contents of the email are completely fake. However, the threatening and demeaning way these emails are written affects some users and pressures them into paying. This scare tactic can work even on users who have never watched pornographic videos. The thought that their contacts may receive an explicit video associated with them is enough to convince them to pay. However, no video will be sent to anyone because scammers did not steal contacts nor were they able to make an explicit video.

Here is the full “Hello My Perverted Friend” sextortion scam text:

Hello, my perverted friend.

We’ve actually known each other for a while, at least I know you.
You can call me Big Brother or the All-Seeing Eye.
I’m a hacker who a few months ago gained access to your device, including your browser history and webcam.
I recorded some videos of you jerking off to highly controversial “adult” videos.
I doubt you’d want your family, coworkers, and your entire … contact list to see footage of you pleasuring yourself, especially considering how kinky your favorite “genre”.
I will also publish these videos on porn sites, they will go viral and it will be physically impossible to remove them from the Internet.

How did I do this?
Because of your disregard for internet security, I easily managed to install a Trojan on your hard disk.
Thanks to this, I was able to access all the data on your device and control it remotely.
By infecting one device, I was able to gain access to all the other devices.

My spyware is embedded in the drivers and updates its signature every few hours, so no antivirus or firewall can ever detect it.
Now I want to offer a deal: a small amount of money in exchange for your former worry free life.

Transfer $890 USD to my bitcoin wallet:

As soon as I receive confirmation of the payment, I will delete all the videos that compromise you, remove the virus from all your devices and you will never hear from me again.
It’s a very small price for not destroying your reputation in the eyes of others, who think that you are a decent man, according to your messengers. You can think of me as some sort of life coach who wants you to start appreciating what you have.

You have 48 hours. I will receive a notification as soon as you open this email, and from this moment, the countdown will begin.
If you’ve never dealt with cryptocurrency before, it’s very easy. Simply type “cryptocurrency exchange” into a search engine, and then all set.

Here’s what you shouldn’t do:
– Don’t reply to my email. It was sent from a temporary email account.
– Don’t call the police. Remember, I have access to all your devices, and as soon as I notice such activity, it will automatically lead to the publishing of all the videos.
– Don’t try to reinstall your system or reset your device. First of all, I already have the videos, and secondly, as I said, I have remote access to all your devices, and once I notice such an attempt, you know what happens.

Remember, crypto addresses are anonymous, so you won’t be able to track down my wallet.

So long story short, let’s resolve this situation with a benefit for me and you.
I always keep my word unless someone tries to trick me.

Lastly, a little advice for the future. Start taking your online security more seriously.
Change your passwords regularly and set up multi-factor authentication on all your accounts.

Best wishes.

Sextortion emails can reveal users’ passwords

Sextortion email scammers buy email addresses from hacker forums. So if you receive a sextortion email, there’s a high chance that your email address has been leaked in the past. You can check on haveibeenpwned.

These types of sextortion emails also reveal users’ passwords in some cases. This is another scare tactic, one proven to be effective because users have no other explanation for how the scammer can get their passwords if not because of malware on their computers. In reality, passwords are also leaked all the time and sold on hacker forums. So if you ever receive a sextortion email that reveals your password, the password was part of a data breach and later sold. If that happens, you’d need to change your password immediately.

“Hello My Perverted Friend” sextortion email scam removal

If you receive this email, you can remove “Hello My Perverted Friend” sextortion email scam from your inbox. In the future, if you receive a similar email, pay no attention to it and delete it right away.