New extortion scam preys on peoples psyche by using home photos, names [Video]

Police and the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre are warning residents after hundreds of reports of people receiving extortion email with their names and pictures of their homes.

John Armit, a detective sergeant with the Ontario Provincial Police and liaison officer with the fraud centre, says the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre has received over 400 reports of people receiving extortion emails since last week.

The extortion letters contain the full name, personal telephone number, personal residential address as well a screenshot of the recipient’s home from Google images.

Police say the extortion letter claims that the recipient has visited explicit websites and threatens to send a copy to the recipient’s contact list if they are not paid with cryptocurrency by transferring the money or through a QR code.

Armit warns the scam seems be international and that  Canadian authorities and the FBI in the United States are investigating.

“From our understanding thus far, …