Police warn locals of malware-based scam that uses publicly-available image of resident’s homes

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – Santa Barbara Police issued a warning to the public about a new scam targeting local residents.

The scam begins with an image of the potential victim's house to imply the scammers know the person's address explained the Santa Barbara Police Department in a press release Tuesday.

An image of a person's home is not difficult to obtain and the easiest method is to use online public records applications detailed the Santa Barbara Police Department.

According to Santa Barbara Police, after sending the photo of a potential victim's home, scammers then claim to have installed malware on the person's phone which gives the scammer access to contacts and the phone's video recording tool.

Scammers then threaten to release embarrassing videos and/or the potential victim's search history to all of their contacts unless they receive a Bitcoin payment shared the Santa Barbara Police Department.

The scammers usually send a QR code with the texted threats that should not be downloaded added the Santa Barbara Police Department.

While the scam has been reported all over California, local residents have also been targeted and if you encounter this scam, you are asked to report it through the Santa Barbara Police Department's online portal here.