State Police Warning of Email Extortion Scam

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STATEWIDE–State Police say you need to be aware of a common email extortion scam that’s going around.

Cybercrime detectives say this one has been happening repetitively for the last couple of months.

“It shows up as an email. The scammer has done homework on the target. They have a lot of personal information that they will use to confirm what that person knows is real,” said Indiana State Police Sergeant John Perrine in Indianapolis.

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The scammer will tell the person that they have installed Pegasus spyware on the target’s phone and then tries to extort money from them.

“Pegasus spyware is very specific software that has not been found to be used in the private market yet. So if anyone says they have this on a private citizen, then that’s just a red flag that’s simply not true,” said Perrine.

On a bigger level, Perrine says you need to be mindful of the fact that scammers are becoming more sophisticated in their nefarious ways.

“They prey on information that people are sensitive about and then they use that information to prey on them. So if something doesn’t seem right to you, it probably isn’t right,” said Perrine.

You can learn more about scams or check a suspicious email by going to http://www.ScamTracker.com.