‘Hello pervert’: The terrifying scam email arriving in people’s inboxes

Message claims that someone has been watching you through your webcam – and threatens to release the footage

(AFP via Getty Images)

A long-standing scam that sends terrifying messages to people, beginning with the words “hey pervert”, appears to be continuing.

The emails claim that someone has been watching you through your computer’s camera, and threaten to send footage taken through that camera to family and friends.

The emails often begin with a variation on the eye-catching opening: “hello pervert”.

They usually include accusations that the recipient has been watching pornographic content and that those videos could be sent to families and friends too.

But the messages and any claims they make are a scam. While it has been a popular way of attacking people for years, it seems to have picked up in recent weeks and months.

If people are tricked into believing the message, they are encouraged to send money to someone as a ransom to stop the supposedly incriminating footage being released.

But even replying to those messages is best avoided. Sending any kind of response can confirm that an email address is in use – potentially inviting more scam emails in the future.

The messages are doubly threatening because they look as if the hacker has access to your inbox. The emails come with your own name in the “from” section of the message – but that is because email software allows users to put fake information into that field.

Other messages might include more personal information, such as a username or even password. But those are taken from publicly available data from cyber attacks – which can then be scooped up by cyber criminals and used for further scams.

The message has been around in some form for years. But reports of it have increased in recent weeks and months – with a flurry of Reddit posts pointing to the email, as well as viral tweets lightheartedly making reference to its attention-grabbing opening line.

In its more recent form, it appears to have been updated to take in more recent events. The email often references the Pegasus spyware, for instance – a reference to very powerful software that needs to be targeted towards specific users, and so is used for attacking politicians, journalists and other powerful figures, rather than for extortion scams.