Cyber Blackmail Wave Targets Office Workers | eWeek

Cyber Blackmail Wave Targets Office Workers

Written By
eWEEK EDITORS
eWEEK EDITORS
Dec 30, 2003
1 minute read
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Cyber extortionists are shaking down office workers, threatening to delete computer files or install pornographic images on their work PCs unless they pay a ransom, according to security experts.

“They prey on the nice secretary who wouldnt do anything wrong. When she gets one of these e-mails she thinks Oh, my goodness what am I going to do? So she puts it on her credit card and transfers the funds to the (suspects online bank) account and hopes it goes away,” a British detective specializing in cyber-crime told Reuters.

Police said the number of cases is tailing off. But because it so often goes unreported, there is little evidence the crime is actually in decline.

Read the full story at Yahoo! News

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