Crims using social media images, videos in 'virtual kidnapping' scams
EL.KZ Информационно-познавательный портал
Criminals are altering social media and other publicly available images of people to use as fake proof of life photos in "virtual kidnapping" and extortion scams,El.kz reports citing the Register.
In these truly heinous extortion attempts, miscreants contact their victims via text messages and claim to have kidnapped their loved one.
Some of these are totally fake, and don't involve any abducted people. Experts warn about posting real missing person info online, indicating that scammers may also be scraping these images and contacting the missing person's family with fake information.
To protect yourself – and your family and friends – from falling victim to these types of scams, experts recommend not providing personal information to strangers while traveling, and setting a code word that only you and your loved ones know.
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