DS being blackmailed by an email saying videos/pics on his phone will be sent to his contacts unless he pays into a bitcoin account

[ArentYouInBedYet]

Any advice please?

I'd look on the Action Fraud website for advice, but assume it's spam and not pay the ransom or click on any links.

Is it standard message stuff? I get a regular ‘we have footage of you doing x y z.’

They don’t. I ignore it.

His age matters. How old is he? If he’s a child it’s an extra level of offence and I’d have no hesitation in going to the police. I’d also contact childline.

If not a child, I’m less sure.

Ignore it. Why give scammers the satisfaction of replying.
Also assuming your son is child and hasn't got any images on his phone that he wouldn't want sharing?

Report it to the police but just ignore it. I have had similar emails in the past and while it sounds scary, it is a scam.

Police and then block.

Unless he has pictures on his phone that are illegal then I would assume it’s a scam and delete it. How old is he?

Am on chat to Norton, but they are being useless and keep transferring me to different depts.

The email is FROM his email - TO his email. V odd. Saying they will release vids and pix to his contacts unless he pays them money.

It’s spam. He’s probably been looking at porn.

Just ignore it.

Police.
Fraud prevention.

It's a scam.
A well known one.

Block and don't reply!

Ignore it. I’ve had one saying they’ll send the video of me watching porn to all my contacts.

Errr, I’ve never watched porn.

Also get him to change all his passwords and tighten his security.

Classic spam. Been going round for years. Delete, change his email passwords, and advise him not to click on dodgy links!

It’s unlikely so just block and ignore

he is 19

It's a scam.

If he’s 19, why are you dealing with it?

This is a common scam they do not have anything, just block, delete and flag as spam.

I get this email quite regularly, it's just spam.

Block, delete and don't think anything else about it.

I had this years ago saying they had my password . They sent me "evidence " which was an old password I had changed years ago. I made enquiries and found that old passwords can be harvested by hackers and used to try and blackmail people. I blocked the sender and changed my passwords just to be on the safe side. Tell your son to change his passwords now and block the sender

Thank you all

He is freaking out, has ADHD and nothing illegal (no dick pix)

Classic scam

It's a scam.

However, it sounds as though there's stuff on his phone that shouldn't be there, or he wouldn't be worried about it. So he probably needs to delete some things and never do whatever it is he is so scared about having evidence of coming out. The best case is that it's a few photos of himself, he's over 18 and he's not sending them to anybody. The worst is that he's a child or that the photos/video are of something illegal.

You need to talk to him and find out.

But it's still a scam - one that relies upon people having a guilty conscience/fear of being found out - but a scam all the same.

It's just spam. I bet if you hover over the sender's address it won't be his email address at all. It's very common. I've had loads of these. They were very common a couple of years ago. Just delete.

I work in online fraud. It's a scam, a well known one that has been going for years. Just delete and ignore

He is calming down reading your messages, thank you all xx