Singapore's Ministry of Digital Development and Information (MDDI) confirmed that emails demanding US$50,000 in cryptocurrency have been sent to public officers and political office holders. The emails threaten to release doctored videos if the ransom is not paid.
Recipients of the email, who were asked to pay US$50,000, had their faces superimposed on an image purporting to be a screenshot from a"compromising" video.LinkedIn
All the emails' contents and images were the same, with the only difference being the faces of the political office holder or public officer in the image. The images appear to have been from open sources such as LinkedIn, added MDDI. Dr Koh Poh Koon, Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Manpower & Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment
Mr Eric Chua, Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth & Ministry of Social and Family Development Earlier on Thursday, the Ministry of Health - one of the 31 agencies affected - reported that staff from Singapore's public healthcare institutions had received extortionary emails containing fake obscene images of themselves.
"MOH and our healthcare clusters adopt a zero-tolerance stance against any form of staff harassment and abuse, and strongly condemn this malicious act against our healthcare workers and their families," added the ministry. "Based on the current cases, the emails would be sent to the victims’ work email addresses," the police added.
EXTORTION SINGAPORE MINISTERS PUBLIC SERVANTS EMAILS CYBERCRIME COMPROMISING VIDEO
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