Malware threat leads to threat of extortion

A 33-year-old Birmingham female was the victim of of an extortion threat, she told Birmingham police.

Officers were dispatched to her residence in the 500 block of Westwood Drive on Monday, September 9. The victim stated she had received an email from someone who stated they had put malware on the victim’s phone and had personal information about her. The suspect then told the victim that an embarrassing video would be released to all of her contacts if she did not send them $2,000 in Bitcoin.

Officers later learned that other victims in the area had received a similar extortion email.

An investigation is ongoing.