A free adult video app and an online Skype scam have been targeting users of porn sites.
The free porn app, which is known as Adult Player and runs on Android smartphones, has been locking peoples’ phones and demanding a ransom of $500, reports Zscale Research. Android device owners have been downloading the free pornographic movie player and having their photos taken, often in varying states of undress and compromising poses.
When installing the ransomware porn app, which is coming from the professional web domain accanalasti247[.]topliberatone[.]pw, adult video surfers are asked to give the app administrator rights. A dialogue box appears reading “Activate device administrator?”
Those who encounter this message and click Activate on phones and tablets that have front-mounted cameras are having their pictures taken, often recording images of how typical adult video patrons might appear.
The blackmailing adult video app then sends the owners’ personal details, including telephone number and operating system, to a remote server. Adult Player locks the device and loads a screen demanding $500, to be paid by PayPal My Cash Card. Restarting the phone or tablet has no effect.
Luckily, there is a free way to disable the porn app scumware. Users can restart the smartphone in safe mode and restrict the app’s privileges by choosing the Settings menu, then the Security menu, and Device Administrator. Remove administrator privileges for the porn app. Then return to the Settings menu, choose Apps and then choose uninstall for the Adult Player porn app.
The Skype scam attempts to wring money from Skype users who are either taking part in online encounters with other Skype users or watching adult videos while using Skype. The Skype hackers have enabled a method that allows them to break into video feeds of Skype users who are actively engaged in Skype conversations, as well as to turn on webcams and take photos and video of users who are unaware they are being recorded.
The New Zeland Herald is reporting on men using Skype in South Auckland who have engaged in “intimate activities” after meeting women online only to later have footage of themselves shown back to them on Skype and demands for cash be made.
Another Skype racket targeted a man who was watching porn online with Skype running in the background, reports 3 News. A few minutes into his session the man received a call from a Skype user he did not know who then proceeded to show him a video of himself, actively engaged in consuming adult videos on YouTube. The Skype fraudster then demanded a payment of €800, that unless he coughed up, the video would be shown to his employer, wife and family.
“They had my Twitter account, they had my Facebook, they had my Gmail – they had everything. They knew everything about me.”
The man, who apparently was not worried about other being shown the video of him watching adult videos, simply blocked the Skype account. Other Skype users caught viewing adult videos may not feel the same way.
Yet another incident was reported by Global News involving a Canadian couple who were sent photos of themselves on Facebook, while lying in bed watching Netflix the previous evening. No mention of Skype is made with this privacy breach — perhaps demonstrating that scam artists have found means beyond Skype, possibly using Netflix, to hack users’ webcams.
Detective Senior Sergeant Eddie Sutherland with the Auckland Police noted that Skype conversations are often started with strangers on sites like badoo.com, tagged.com and sayhi.com. Once images or video have been taken via Skype, there is little police can do to retrieve them, particularly if perpetrators are overseas.
The police warn about the dangers of meeting users in person when introduced on adult video sites or through Skype, and note that many online profiles are fake.
“Often these victims will meet up with someone they have met online, only to end up being assaulted and robbed. If you are going to meet up with someone you met online then make sure someone knows what your plans are, and arrange to text them at set times. Meet in a public place and leave if you feel uncomfortable.”
[Skype Photo by David Ramos / Getty Images]
Free Adult Video App And Skype Blackmail Scam Target Online Porn Consumers is an article from: The Inquisitr News