The term “sextortion” is derived from the English “extortion”, i.e. blackmail. There are usually a means to an end alleged or real recordingswhich is intended to show the victim during sexual acts.
The starting point for the scam is often a chat with people on dating apps like Tinder – which is why men looking for a partner are particularly affected. But large data leaks are also exploited.
Offenders then ship Emails to Victims, often with attribution. They pretend to have hacked the laptop or smartphone and to be in possession of compromising footage. The perpetrators give parts of the telephone number or the password as proof.
The victims are then threatened that the video material to friends, family and colleagues sent – unless you pay a sum of money via cryptocurrency.