Barnstable Police Warn Residents About Email Scams

BARNSTABLE, MA — Barnstable police have issued a warning to residents to be on the look out for email scams. Over the past few weeks, police said they've received dozens of reports of hackers using personal information as ransom to demand thousands of dollars from residents.

Police said one specific scam trend has been the subject of most of the recent reports. Here are the details of that scam:

1. The scammer claims to have hacked your computer with your password.
2. The scammer will present to you a password. This may be one of your old passwords that may have been part of a data leak from one of the major online servers.
3. The scammer claims to have intimate videos of you, claiming that they recorded them using your computer.
4. The scammer threatens to send these videos to your contacts if you do not make a payment to them.
5. The scammer request payment via the internet, typically in the form of Bitcoin, typically $1,000-$2,000 in value.

Police said if you receive one of these emails, take the following actions:

1. Don't respond or send any payments to the scammer

2. Immediately change your password on any online accounts that you think may have been breached. The website "http://haveibeenpwned.com/" allows you to check if your email address is listed as being affected by one of the large breaches included on its database. If your email address is listed, make sure you update your password on the affected sites.

2. Delete the scam email and mark it as spam so that your email filter removes it.

3. Use different password variations for each online account. This step should protect you in the future because if one of your accounts is breached, no other account should be affected.

4. Report the scam and file an online report with the Federal Trade Commission.