It seems that scammers are now becoming bolder, even using technology to steal information and blackmail their victims.
Unfortunately, a Singaporean man was the latest victim of such a scam, all because he had answered a phone call from the United Kingdom.
Facebook Post On the Scam
On 22 April, Ednes Lee made a post on Facebook, warning others of a deeply concerning scam which had involved multiple parties and caused much confusion.
Lee, who sells gaming credits online, is no stranger to having numerous contacts and receiving texts from unknown numbers.
Received Video of Unknown Man from Malaysian Number
However, on 21 April, she received a particularly disturbing Whatsapp message from a Malaysian number.
The message started off by asking Lee if she knew the person in the attached video. The video was of a man allegedly performing sexual acts on himself while watching a female.
The subsequent messages then mentioned how the man in the video had allegedly engaged in sexual services but did not pay for them.
To get his “payment”, the hacker threatened to leak the video to the man’s contacts.
However, Lee explained that she did not know who the man in the video was and said the person might have her contact due to her online business.
She then said she would contact the man’s number through her friend and make a police report.
After getting her friend to message the man in the video and failing to get a response, Lee made a post on Facebook on the same day about the incident.
The post has since been taken down.
Victim Approached Lee on Telegram
Hours after the post had been made, the victim, Owen Law, approached Lee via Telegram to clarify the situation.
He shared with her that his phone had been hacked after picking up a call from an unknown UK number.
As a result, all his photos and videos on his phone were compromised by hackers. They then used his likeness from the stolen media and deepfaked his face onto a pornographic video.
The hackers also stole Law’s contact list and showed proof of it during the victim’s conversation with the hacking syndicate.
Law then urged Lee to take down her original post made about him as it had gone viral, gaining over 100 shares.
Threatened to Send Porn Video to Contacts
Another screenshot showed the hacker’s demands and threats. They had warned Law against contacting the police and said they would treat his silence as proof that he did not intend to do anything.
If he still did not reply, the hacker threatened to share the video with his contacts and said they would only stop if they received a fee of $8,000.
Law wisely refused to pay up but was then met with a series of threats, including one that said his nude videos and photos would be published on Tinder.
Other Victims
After clarifying the situation, Law shared that he was not the only one who had fallen prey to such of many who fell prey to this type of hacking.
He said that his friends also knew of others who had experienced similar hacking.
Picked Up Phone Call Because He was Sleepy
On 21 April, Law made a police report about the hacking and scamming incident. He then shared with Lee pictures of a neighbourhood police centre and his police report.
When she asked him why he had picked up the phone call despite it being from a foreign number, Law replied that he was not fully awake as it was early in the morning.
Furthermore, he had assumed it was from his manager.
It sure is scary how advanced scammers are becoming, so whether sleepy or not, always remain vigilant when coming across unknown phone numbers, lest you become the next victim of such scams.
Featured Image: Facebook (Ednes Lee)
