'˜Negative review' blackmailers targeting businesses
Action Fraud, the national fraud and cyber crime reporting centre, has received several reports in the last few days from businesses who have been sent online extortion demands from scammers threatening a cyber attack.
The scammers - who call themselves the ‘RepKiller Team’ - have been sending emails to businesses across the UK demanding payment of between £300-£500 in Bitcoins by a certain date and time.
If the demands are not met, the team have threatened to launch a cyber attack against the businesses and their reputation by automating hundreds of negative reviews online.
The emails also claim that once actions have started, they cannot be undone. Although these scammers are currently calling themselves ‘RepKiller’, it is common for fraudsters to continually change and adopt new tactics – email names can be created and changed easily.
Anyone who receives one of these emails is advised to report it to Action Fraud immediately and under no circumstances pay the demand.
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Action Fraud’s full advice can be viewed below:
Whether the attack is attempted or successful, you should report it to Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040
Do not pay the demand. There is no guarantee the scammers won’t launch an attack and could encourage further extortion demands in future.
Retain all the original emails. Should law enforcement investigate, the information contained within the email headers can be used as evidence.
Maintain a timeline of the attack recording all times, type and content of contact.