Police in Woodstock are warning residents about scammers who are extorting victims by threatening to release explicit footage from their hacked webcams.
The Woodstock Police Service said the scammers have been sending emails and text messages which cite the victim's password as proof that they have hacked the computer while the victims were visiting a pornographic website. The scammers then claim they have accessed the victims' webcam to record them and then threaten to make the video public if they do not pay a fee immediately.
Police said reports to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre indicate that the extortion videos do not exist and the passwords being cited have been obtained from previous data breaches.
Woodstock residents are urged not to open these messages or click the links within them. The messages should be deleted and then reported to police. Computer passwords should also be changed every few months to avoid data breaches.
Anyone who has information about these scams is asked to contact the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre at www.antifraudcentre.ca or 1-888-495-8501. If you have been the victim of a scam or fraud, contact Woodstock police at 519-537-2323.
