An alert for a digital scam went viral on social media this Tuesday (17). the pharmacist Marina Cristofani who has almost a million followers, revealed in a video testimonial on his tiktok who suffered an extortion attempt by cell phone.
She reported that she was at work when they called from an unknown number. As she found it strange, she didn’t answer. Soon after, Marina says that she received a message from the same number on WhatsApp: “When I saw it, it was a photo of the person’s ‘widdle’, of her member. (…) I was horrified, blocked the number on the spot and deleted the conversation”.
It didn’t take long for him to receive messages from several followers saying that they had also suffered the same type of scam. The trap began to be reported on social media at the end of last year, but new cases continue to emerge.
@marinacristofani 🚨 widdler scam alert 🚨 #coup #extortion
According to reports, the criminal video calls someone and, as soon as the person answers, the image of a penis or a naked child appears on the screen. The goal is to take a screenshot and blackmail the person. If she does not pay the requested amount, the threat is that the photos will be published on the internet.
What to do?
The influencer said she felt invaded, was nervous and did not know how to take practical steps to report the attack.
Arthur Igreja, a specialist in Technology, warns that in this type of scam, the objective is to catch the victim “in fright”: “The person has to calm down and understand that it is an extortion attempt”, he explained.
To prevent this type of attack, the Church advises to avoid answering or answering calls from unknown numbers. If, even so, the person is a victim, the ideal is to make a digital police report to protect yourself from future repercussions, such as, for example, accusations of pedophilia;
In the comments of the video, several people reported having suffered the same coup attempt: “They did it to me, I was horrified. I filed a police report and they found the guy”, reported an internet user. “I had to take my phone off my work profile because of this. I never answer video calls, but I received about 60 calls in one day,” wrote another.
data protection
The expert explains that there are three ways for a criminal to obtain a cell phone number: through leaked data lists; in the phone book of stolen cell phones and on someone’s own social media.
Therefore, he warns people to review their personal profiles and delete sensitive information such as telephone, personal email and address to avoid scams like this, or any variation that may arise.
Source: CNN Brasil
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