'It was very unnerving': Ontario woman receives sextortion email demanding Bitcoin or have compromising photos leaked

An Ontario woman is feeling uneasy after she received a sextortion email demanding she pay the fraudster US$1,900 in Bitcoin or risk having compromising photographs of herself shared with her loved ones.

"It's very unnerving, it's very upsetting. They had my name, address, email, cell phone and a picture of the street on which my home is," said Alexandra. CTV News agreed not to disclose her last name.

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York Regional Police (YRP) issued a news release last month warning locals about an ongoing sextortion scam after hearing from residents in the community. Police in Hamilton and Peel Region also warned residents of the same scam. 

Sextortion scams intimidate victims to pay fraudsters money or risk having embarrassing images of themselves to their family and friends. Fraudsters typically claim they're spying on the victim and have recorded proof that they have looked at inappropriate material online, including pornography.

Alexandra told CTV News Toronto that she received an email that her computer had been taken over remotely, and compromising video and images of herself had been recorded.

"They said they had my browsing history, and they had photos of me viewing inappropriate sites and that they were going to disclose that," said Alexandra.

In the email, viewed by CTV News, it said: "I can't even fathom the humiliation you'll face when your colleagues, friends and family see it."

It also promised to "wipe everything clean" once she sent US$1,900 to the fraudster through a Bitcoin machine. 

"The tone was extremely threatening and urgent like you have to act now or else," said Alexandra.

But, Alexandra said she had never looked at inappropriate websites, so she knew it was a scam and contacted the police.

"The scammers their entire thing is to try and trick people and deceive them into giving their money," YRP's Const. James Dickson told CTV News Toronto.

Criminals may be harvesting information from data breaches, police said, adding that once they find a victim's home address, getting a photo of it is easy.

"All these people have to do once they get your home address is throw it into Google Maps, and they can get a very good and recent photo of your property," said Dickson.

Police say if you get one of these emails, do not provide payment or respond. Instead, they say to conduct a virus or malware scan of your computer and report the email to police.