Grifters are pretending to have hacked your computer’s camera

Has someone contacted you saying they’ve got webcam video of you? Don’t pay them.

Army Times
Meghann Myers
October 24, 2018

CID recommends covering webcams (perhaps with a piece of black tape), as well as keeping software updated, using a firewall and changing passwords with another device.

Add another one to the list of scams soldiers should be looking out for. Apparently now internet grifters are pretending to have hacked your computer’s camera and taken videos of you or your family, and they’re threatening to release them unless you pay up.

CID is warning soldiers about scammers claiming to have hacked computer cameras to record illicit videos and are now threatening to release them unless they're paid a ransom. (Getty Images)

Army Criminal Investigation Command is warning soldiers and families to beware of this “hijacked webcam” scam, according to a Thursday release from the Army.

“This is a scam. Do not send any payment to the blackmailer even if you receive an email specifically addressed to you,” CID Special Agent Daniel Andrews, with the Computer Crime Investigative Unit, said in the release. “Sometimes the email includes one or more of your real usernames and seems to directly target you.”
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