Scam circulating the Marquette area, requesting Bitcoins

MARQUETTE — The Marquette County Sheriff’s Office and the NMU Police Department have received multiple complaints of an email scam that threatens the victim to pay the scammer with Bitcoins, or cryptocurrency. If the victim doesn’t do as told, the victim’s contacts will be sent pictures and videos of the victim viewing pornographic images.

The scammers tell the victim his or her password that was most likely obtained in a hack of a legitimate website. The scammer then uses the knowledge of the victim’s password to claim they have more knowledge of pornographic online activity.

If anyone receives an email with this type of threat, please change all online passwords and watch credit reports for suspicious activity in case person information was compromised.