You Can Visit The Police Station Email Scam
Written by Tomas Meskauskas on (updated)
What is "You can visit the police station"?
Scammers use the "You can visit the police station" spam email campaign to trick people into believing that they have obtained compromising photos or videos. They also make ransom demands and threaten that they will proliferate this material if their demands are not met.
Note that this is simply one of many spam email campaigns of this type, and there is nothing to worry about.
According to scammers behind the "You can visit the police station" campaign, the system was infected by a virus that allowed them to make a recording of the user "touching intimate parts". These people use the so-called "spoofing" method, which allows them to falsify the sender's email.
Criminals use this method to make it appear that the recipient is also the sender of the email message. They claim that they have access to the user's contacts list and will proliferate the recording if their ransom demands are not met. In this case, cyber criminals/scammers demand payment of $800 in Bitcoins.
According to the scammers, if the user makes contact via email, they will send 'proof' that they can control the operating system and the ransom size will increase to $20000. This does not appear to make sense, but whatever they state, never trust them.
Generally, scammers send emails of this type to thousands of users in the hope that some will fall for the scam and send the money. We recommend that you ignore the "You can visit the police station" and similar spam emails - all claims within these emails are false.
Name | You Can Visit The Police Station Email Scam |
Threat Type | Phishing, Scam, Social Engineering, Fraud |
Symptoms | Unauthorized online purchases, changed online account passwords, identity theft, illegal access of one's computer. |
Distribution methods | Deceptive emails, rogue online pop-up ads, search engine poisoning techniques, misspelled domains. |
Damage | Loss of sensitive private information, monetary loss, identity theft. |
Malware Removal (Windows) | To eliminate possible malware infections, scan your computer with legitimate antivirus software. Our security researchers recommend using Combo Cleaner. |
Other examples of spam campaigns of this type are Important For Your Sake, Hello, Sacrifice. This Is My Last Warning!!!, So I'm The Hacker Who Broke Your Email, and many others. Typically, scammers claim that they have recorded a compromising video (or taken a photo) and threaten people that they will proliferate this material if their ransom demands are not met.
Another type of spam campaigns is also used to proliferate computer infections, rather than extort money from people. These emails usually contain a link or malicious attachment, which, once opened, infects the system with a virus. These attachments can be Microsoft Office documents, PDF files, archive files, executables (.exe), and so on.
Scammers claim to be representatives of well-known companies and attempt to make people believe that the attachment contains important data or information, however, once opened, these attachments download and install viruses such as Adwind, TrickBot, Emotet, AZORult, and so on.
Infections of this type are usually designed to cause privacy, financial, browsing safety, and other similar problems by recording data such as logins, passwords, bank account details, etc. It is also possible that some infections will open "backdoors for other malicious programs/viruses such as ransomware.
We receive a great deal of feedback from concerned users about this scam email. Here is the most popular question we receive:
Q: Hi pcrisk.com team, I received an email stating that my computer was hacked and they have a video of me. Now they are asking for a ransom in Bitcoins. I think this must be true because they listed my real name and password in the email. What should I do?
A: Do not worry about this email. Neither hackers nor cyber criminals have infiltrated/hacked your computer and there is no video of you watching pornography. Simply ignore the message and do not send any Bitcoins. Your email, name, and password was probably stolen from a compromised website such as Yahoo (these website breaches are common). If you are concerned, you can check if your accounts have been compromised by visiting haveibeenpwned website.
How do spam campaigns infect computers?
Scammers/cyber criminals who use spam email campaigns to proliferate malicious attachments achieve their goal to infect computers only when users open the infectious attachments. If the attachment is a Microsoft Office document (Word, Excel, etc.), users are asked to enable macro commands first.
Enabling them gives permission for a virus/infection to be downloaded and installed. If the attachment is an archive file, it must be extracted, an executable file must be executed, and so on. Most spam campaigns target Windows Operating Systems.
How to avoid installation of malware?
Be careful with emails received from unknown or suspicious email addresses, especially if they contain attachments. Avoid opening email attachments or links that are presented in irrelevant or suspicious emails. Use official and trustworthy sources to download software, and avoid using third party downloaders, installers and other such tools.
Third party downloaders/installers are often used to proliferate unwanted applications or even malware. Handle software installation and download processes with care. Check all "Custom", "Advanced" and other similar settings. Decline offers to install any additional software and only then complete the installation or download process.
Update software using tools or functions provided by official software developers only. Other (third party) tools are often used to install malicious programs rather than updates.
We also recommend that you use only newer Microsoft Office versions (2010 and above) that include "Protected View" mode - this prevents malicious documents from downloading/installing viruses automatically. If you have already opened malicious attachments, we recommend running a scan with Combo Cleaner Antivirus for Windows to automatically eliminate infiltrated malware.
Text presented in the "You can visit the police station" email message:
Subject: I am waiting for the money
You can visit the police station but nobody can help you.
I am foreigner. It means they can not catch me even for 8 months.
This is my last warning!
Your system was infected by my virus.
We recorded you through your webcam, at the moment you went to the porn web-page.
Now I have a record of you, touching your intimate parts.
We downloaded your contactlist so if you want us to stay silent you have to pay 800 $ in bitcoins.
Copy this wallet address to pay
14cNqeDxBk6mfM7bFn6xyo6Tp7B2V3DvAJ
(something like a credit card number)
If you reply on this message my server will forward you the evidence that I manage your OS.
But be warned . Immediately with proof you will receive new transaction details and you will have to send 20000 dollars instead of the previous sum.
All the best. Think about the ignominy.
Another variant of "You can visit the police station" spam campaign email:
Text presented within this email:
Subject: I can share proofs with you
You can complain to the police but nobody can help you.
I am foreigner. It means nobody can catch me even for 6 months.
This is my last warning!Your system was infected by my virus.
We turned on your web-cam, during your porn-site visit.
Now I have a video material with your masturbation.
We downloaded your contactlist and if you want me to keep this secret you should send 700 $ in bitcoins.Copy this bitcoin address for payment
1Bz4ud8oZ5TbmFeX8PuXVrffF1mDVv123B
(something like a credit card number)If you write back on this email my system will send you the evidence that I can manage your system.
But be warned . Immediately with proof you will receive new payment info and you will have to pay 20000 USD instead of the previous amount.
Bye. Think about the ignominy.
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Quick menu:
- What is You Can Visit The Police Station spam?
- Types of malicious emails.
- How to spot a malicious email?
- What to do if you fell for an email scam?
Types of malicious emails:
Phishing Emails
Most commonly, cybercriminals use deceptive emails to trick Internet users into giving away their sensitive private information, for example, login information for various online services, email accounts, or online banking information.
Such attacks are called phishing. In a phishing attack, cybercriminals usually send an email message with some popular service logo (for example, Microsoft, DHL, Amazon, Netflix), create urgency (wrong shipping address, expired password, etc.), and place a link which they hope their potential victims will click on.
After clicking the link presented in such email message, victims are redirected to a fake website that looks identical or extremely similar to the original one. Victims are then asked to enter their password, credit card details, or some other information that gets stolen by cybercriminals.
Emails with Malicious Attachments
Another popular attack vector is email spam with malicious attachments that infect users' computers with malware. Malicious attachments usually carry trojans that are capable of stealing passwords, banking information, and other sensitive information.
In such attacks, cybercriminals' main goal is to trick their potential victims into opening an infected email attachment. To achieve this goal, email messages usually talk about recently received invoices, faxes, or voice messages.
If a potential victim falls for the lure and opens the attachment, their computers get infected, and cybercriminals can collect a lot of sensitive information.
While it's a more complicated method to steal personal information (spam filters and antivirus programs usually detect such attempts), if successful, cybercriminals can get a much wider array of data and can collect information for a long period of time.
Sextortion Emails
This is a type of phishing. In this case, users receive an email claiming that a cybercriminal could access the webcam of the potential victim and has a video recording of one's masturbation.
To get rid of the video, victims are asked to pay a ransom (usually using Bitcoin or another cryptocurrency). Nevertheless, all of these claims are false - users who receive such emails should ignore and delete them.
How to spot a malicious email?
While cyber criminals try to make their lure emails look trustworthy, here are some things that you should look for when trying to spot a phishing email:
- Check the sender's ("from") email address: Hover your mouse over the "from" address and check if it's legitimate. For example, if you received an email from Microsoft, be sure to check if the email address is @microsoft.com and not something suspicious like @m1crosoft.com, @microsfot.com, @account-security-noreply.com, etc.
- Check for generic greetings: If the greeting in the email is "Dear user", "Dear @youremail.com", "Dear valued customer", this should raise suspiciousness. Most commonly, companies call you by your name. Lack of this information could signal a phishing attempt.
- Check the links in the email: Hover your mouse over the link presented in the email, if the link that appears seems suspicious, don't click it. For example, if you received an email from Microsoft and the link in the email shows that it will go to firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0... you shouldn't trust it. It's best not to click any links in the emails but to visit the company website that sent you the email in the first place.
- Don't blindly trust email attachments: Most commonly, legitimate companies will ask you to log in to their website and to view any documents there; if you received an email with an attachment, it's a good idea to scan it with an antivirus application. Infected email attachments are a common attack vector used by cybercriminals.
To minimise the risk of opening phishing and malicious emails we recommend using Combo Cleaner Antivirus for Windows.
Example of a spam email:
What to do if you fell for an email scam?
- If you clicked on a link in a phishing email and entered your password - be sure to change your password as soon as possible. Usually, cybercriminals collect stolen credentials and then sell them to other groups that use them for malicious purposes. If you change your password in a timely manner, there's a chance that criminals won't have enough time to do any damage.
- If you entered your credit card information - contact your bank as soon as possible and explain the situation. There's a good chance that you will need to cancel your compromised credit card and get a new one.
- If you see any signs of identity theft - you should immediately contact the Federal Trade Commission. This institution will collect information about your situation and create a personal recovery plan.
- If you opened a malicious attachment - your computer is probably infected, you should scan it with a reputable antivirus application. For this purpose, we recommend using Combo Cleaner Antivirus for Windows.
- Help other Internet users - report phishing emails to Anti-Phishing Working Group, FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, National Fraud Information Center and U.S. Department of Justice.
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