Online Scam Threatens To Release Compromising Webcam Video

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) --  A new "I know your password" scam circulating online is grabbing the attention of people across the country.

The scheme goes like this: hacker's send you an email with one of your real passwords in the subject line. This is used to leverage what comes next, the threat.

The scam claims to have webcam footage of you watching adult videos and threatens to send it to your entire contact list if you don't pay up.

The good news is that these scammer's don't actually have that compromising webcam footage of you that they claim they do.

They do, however, have people's real passwords and are using it to trick people into complying to their money demands.

Officials say hacker's may have obtained these real passwords through the dark web.

To see if any of your own passwords or email addresses have been breached you can go to the website "have I been pwned" to check.

The public is advised to simply ignore any scam emails demanding money, even if they appear to have some of your personal information.

Officials say this type of scamming could just be the beginning.