Scammers create fake videos to blackmail victims

Usually, Yahoo Boy Scammers message hundreds of people online while posing as members of the opposite sex using photos stolen from social media profiles. They run all kinds of scams, but for those involving blackmail, they often try to build a relationship with their potential victim and get compromising information – more commonly, nude images. Then they change gears.

“At some point, they reveal their identity after getting everything they need, and then they start blackmailing,” says Maimon. They demand money and threaten to release the images online or send them to family and friends if they are not paid. “One of the approaches they use to make sure the blackmail is realistic is actually to produce those news clips that they send to the victims and in a way push, nudge, to pay the blackmail,” he says. “They try to push you to make decisions under conditions of stress, under conditions of urgency.”

Yahoo Boy fraudsters widely use the Telegram social media platform as a way to organize, chat with others, and as a marketplace where they sell knowledge and tutorials on how to operate different types of scams. The “news” videos seen by WIRED appeared to include details and images of real-world victims, though it was not immediately possible to verify the cases.

Brian Mason, a constable with the Edmonton Police Service in Canada who investigates fraud and works with victims of scams, says he has seen cases where videos or screenshots of fake CNN broadcasts have been sent to victims. “It looks like your typical CNN broadcast,” Mason says. “It’s very, very convincing.” Mason says the approach has been used in sextortion scamswhich commonly targets teenagers and have been linked to a series of suicides.

Mason says he’s seen incidents where news clips falsely accuse scam victims of talking to underage women and the police are looking for them or have issued warrants for their arrest. “It makes the victim panic because now they see themselves on this broadcast, and it’s a screen capture from when they were actually talking to the scammer from their own webcam,” Mason adds. The effect can potentially push the person to send money or follow requests from scammers.

Telegram did not immediately respond to WIRED’s request for comment on the blackmail scams contained in the Yahoo Boy channels. Last year, Telegram removed more than a dozen Yahoo Boy channels after WIRED reported on his public activity; however, scammers still have a presence on the platform and other social media platformsincluding Facebook, WhatsApp and YouTube.

The messages shared in Telegram channels show how fraudsters are ready to evolve their counters, use new technologies, and widely share or sell tips with others. For example, when people moved to the Chinese alternative Rednote before the proposed ban of TikTok in the United States at the beginning of the month, Yahoo Boys recommended targeting people who joined the app.