My friend recently received a text threatening to expose him doing naughty things they captured with his iPhone camera from a 203 number. I did some research and found out this a Pegasus scam. I understand this has been fake in the past however they know his contacts. They are requesting $1450. How concerned should he be and is this real?
[Re-Titled by Moderator]
It’s distinctly possible somebody with ill-considered security settings has been breached. Password re-use is approximately doom, particularly without two-factor. That’s also blackmail, as mentioned.
It’s also possible this is the generic “hey pervert” message or ilk, analogs of which have been circulating for many years. That’s creative writing.
And getting linkages is trivial, both for close associates, and for those that are inclined to dig through other existing breaches.
I’ve cleaned up after various breaches. It’s less than fun. (And the “hey pervert” creative fiction has been circulating for most of a decade.)
Some general info:
It’s distinctly possible somebody with ill-considered security settings has been breached. Password re-use is approximately doom, particularly without two-factor. That’s also blackmail, as mentioned.
It’s also possible this is the generic “hey pervert” message or ilk, analogs of which have been circulating for many years. That’s creative writing.
And getting linkages is trivial, both for close associates, and for those that are inclined to dig through other existing breaches.
I’ve cleaned up after various breaches. It’s less than fun. (And the “hey pervert” creative fiction has been circulating for most of a decade.)
Some general info:
There is nothing to be concerned about it. The same message has been posted here many times and probably starts out with "Hey Pervert" and includes a link to a crypto wallet to send money. They have no information and simply deleting it is all that is needed.
It was not information that was gained from the phone through a remote hack. Apps can be given access to your contacts and once that has been granted by the user, they can send them to any remote server and also third party sites can be compromised, such as Facebook with a simple password, and show the Contacts that have been uploaded from the phone.
They accurately provided a correct list of his contacts in his phone.
You can also post the email that was received and redact any personal names. This would be beneficial to others as well and compare it to the stock email most others have received.
By the way, if it is true then it isn't a scam, it is blackmail.
Pegasus Text Scam Threat on iPhone Contacts
