Gardai in Donegal have been made aware that some people have received ‘Extortion’ emails lately.
Gardai say that these sort of emails have been doing the rounds for a while and by their very design, they create a feeling of fear and panic in whoever receives them.
In a statement, Gardai say that criminals do not need any hacking skills to pull off an extortion scam and often rely on leaked email addresses stolen from huge companies and email providers over the last decade or so.
Sometimes scammers might even buy passwords associated with the email accounts concerned and then add that password in the email they send you in order to add a feeling of authenticity.
Gardai sat that can increase the panic that the victim may feel when they receive the email and the scammer’s plan has started to work.
The scammers will falsely claim that they have accessed sensitive information about you.
Gardais advice is firstly and most importantly, do not panic. Never give these people what they ask for and never click on the link provided. Delete the email.
If a password is mentioned in the email that you do still use then please change the password on all of your online accounts immediately to be safe.
Should you have fallen victim already and have already paid the fee that was demanded then please alert Gardaí.
