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Police Warn of Extortion Scams

The Grenville County OPP says there has been an increase in reported extortion scams.

Police say the scammer will tell someone a picture or video with sexually explicit content will be made public unless the person pays a fee in bitcoin immediately. People are receiving emails from scammers with a password they are using or have previously used. Police explain, the scammers use that as proof that they have hacked someone’s computer while they were visiting a pornographic site and have gained access to the webcam and all proceedings were recorded. OPP say the scammers urge victims to pay the fee to avoid humiliation.

The OPP says the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre indicates that a video does not exist. They also suggest that the passwords being cited have been obtained from previous data breaches.

Police say changing your passwords regularly, checking to see if your email has been involved in a previous breach here, keeping anti-virus programs updated and running checks routinely, being aware of unsolicited emails demanding personal information or immediate payment are ways to protect yourself.

The OPP adds if you’ve been involved in a data breach, contact the credit bureaus to place fraud alerts on your identity.

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