STORM LAKE – The Storm Lake Police Department has received multiple reports over the past week of a email extortion scam involving a threat to “expose internet browsing habits” of the recipient.
Police say the scam involves the email sender claiming to have installed spyware (often referred to as Pegasus) on the recipient’s computer and demands payment by bitcoin or they will expose their internet browsing habits to others. The scam also involves the sender including a picture of the recipients property or home and threatens to contact them in person if they don’t comply.
This is a scam plain and simple. The scammers can obtain public information about the name and address of the recipients, and easily obtain photographs of their home through public websites such as google earth. Do not give in to this scam – do not send any money. The best way to handle this is to ignore and/or delete the email.