MACON, Ga. — Many people are working from home because of the COVID-19 pandemic and spending a lot of time on their computers. It's giving scammers a big pool of potential victims to reel into the latest phishing scam.
It's called "sextortion" and it begins with an email making shocking allegations.
"They were accusing of pornographic acts and that they had a porn video they were going to publicize, and when it got down to one of them, this guy was very, very threatening. He said, 'I'm going to release this in the next few minutes and your life is going to be destroyed,'" said Betty Taylor.
Taylor knew better. The Air Force veteran says she received four threatening emails over two weeks. All four were sextortion. She reported the emails to the FBI and the Better Business Bureau.
"Many times, they're getting your information from a site that's been compromised. A lot of times in the subject line, there will be a password and they'll say they have lewd video of you watching porn and they threaten to send it to all of your contacts unless you give them so much money in bitcoin. Bitcoin is virtual currency that can't be tracked," said Kelvin Collins with the Better Business Bureau.
How did Betty know better? She says she was one of the first women in the Air Force to get into computer technology in the mid-1970s, so she can spot a scam. She's concerned about other people, especially older ones online who might receive a disturbing email.
"You're ashamed to talk to anybody, you don't know what to do, and you can't come up with the money. There are going to be some elderly people who just might get pushed over the edge and would harm themselves just to prevent someone from sullying their reputation," Taylor said.
If you get one of those emails, don't open it. You can report it to the FBI.