Kaspersky warning of blackmail from alleged “hackers,” “law enforcement” and “hitmen”

Kaspersky warns that personal data leaks have made email blackmail scams increasingly targeted and convincing.

Attackers are now using personal information, such as full names and phone numbers, in their scam messages to appear credible and cause panic among victims.

Increasingly convincing email scams

Scammers can pose as hackers in possession of compromising data, as law enforcement officers sending fake summonses for questioning, and even as hitmen demanding ransom.

These threats often use various techniques to bypass email filters and other security mechanisms, indicating the need for increased caution.

In the most common form of scam, scammers pose as hackers who claim to have broken into the victim’s devices.

They claim to have access to cameras, microphones, browsing history, and sensitive files, often threatening to release explicit content allegedly captured via a webcam or screen while the victim was watching adult content.

The demands typically involve paying hundreds of dollars in cryptocurrency, with the “promise” that the data will be erased after payment.

Such emails often contain detailed stories about the alleged hack, explanations of types of malware, and even “tips” for better security - ironically, since these tips sometimes actually correspond to real security recommendations.

Another variant of the scam involves scammers posing as hitmen. In this scenario, the sender claims that there is a “contract” to kill the victim, but offers to spare them if they pay more than the “contractor.”

The email contains a crypto wallet address for the ransom payment, and the scammer presents themself as a “benevolent intermediary.” This type of scam is based on fear rather than shame, offering the victim “life in exchange for payment.”

False summonses and crypto amounts

Another common tactic involves impersonating law enforcement officials, such as Europol.

Victims receive emails with attached PDF or DOC documents containing fake summonses or indictments for serious crimes such as child exploitation, exhibitionism, or human trafficking.

These documents often contain fabricated articles of the law, forged signatures and seals, and request immediate contact via the provided email address to “solve” the case.

When the victim responds, the “officials” demand payment of fines to avoid prosecution, which usually leads to transfers in cryptocurrency.

This type of scam is particularly common in Europe, and the messages are sent in French, Spanish, and Portuguese.

– To bypass protection systems, fraudsters use various techniques to evade detection – explains Anna Lazaricheva, Senior Spam Analyst at Kaspersky.

She emphasizes that this “includes inserting the main threat in attachments (to avoid scanning the email content), mixing letters from different scripts (e.g. replacing Latin letters with similar Cyrillic ones), adding diacritical marks via HTML codes, varying fonts in the HTML structure, inserting random symbols or punctuation between words, and hiding text in invisible HTML tables.”

– This “noise” makes it difficult for security solutions to recognize the scam, because each version of the email appears unique, while still being readable by humans.

For example, crypto-wallet addresses can be hidden by HTML entities, which allows them to bypass filters, while the victim can still copy them – explains Lazaric.

Protection in several steps

To avoid becoming a victim of such scams, Kaspersky recommends the following steps:

• Check the sender: Always check the From field in the email and compare it with the address in the Reply-To field or the one specified in the message text. Differences often indicate a scam.

• Ignore attachments and links: Don’t open unknown files as they may contain malware. Don’t click on suspicious links - they can lead to phishing or scam sites.

• Look for signs of evasion: Look for unusual text formatting, mixed fonts or random symbols - these are typical indicators of spam.

• Know the procedures: Real law enforcement agencies never send summonses via email or demand payment in cryptocurrency, but use official channels.

• Check the claims: Search online for the agencies, laws or organizations mentioned – if they don’t exist or the details don’t match, it’s a scam.

• Report the incident and protect yourself: Forward suspicious emails to the appropriate authorities, such as your local cybercrime unit, and update your device’s security software immediately.

Read more in the blog post on KasperskyDaily.

Kaspersky

Kaspersky

KasperskyDaily

Anna Lazaricheva

personal data

e mail scams

cyber crime

fake websites

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