The United States FTC has released a threat advisory regarding an extortion group that defrauds the LGBTQ+ community on online dating apps. According to the agency, scammers abuse several online dating apps such as Feeld and Grindr to carry out cyberattacks.
The threat actors portray themselves as potential romantic partners on the dating applications by sending explicit pictures to their targets and asking them to reply with the same content.
If the target bites the bait, they will be blackmailed by the threat actors using the explicit photos they receive. The adversaries commonly ask for untraceable gift cards as ransom. If the target does not cooperate, the sensitive imagery they had sent to the threat actors will be shared with their relatives, friends, and workplace.
Few scammers reveal the victims’ names and post them on social media if the ransom is not provided. Moreover, scammers bluff the people who have not yet announced their gender to the public.
In this instance, the threat actors pressure the victims into giving them the money they are asking for, or they will specifically tell their victims the word “ruin your life” by exposing conversations and photos.
Last year, the FBI uncovered the massive surge of online romance scams that caused the loss of approximately $100 million in two years. This year, the fraud has expanded its threat scope as it also targets the members of the LGBTQ+.
According to the agency, most victims report that their initial contact with the scammers is mutual and use dating websites and applications. Experts said that the targeted victims should automatically stop interacting with cybercriminals.
Users should never send explicit messages to anyone since threat actors can use them for malicious purposes, such as extortion.
In addition, never open attachments from unwanted senders and people who pop up in the chats since links can hack devices through malware. Some malware variants can access private data, photos and contacts or control cameras and microphones of the infected device.
