MONROE — The Green County Sheriff’s Office is warning residents about a new email scam threatening to expose allegedly illicit images of the victim to their personal contact list.

The so-called “sextortion” scam is making the rounds of email inboxes, according to the sheriff’s office, which received two complaints. The inbox at the New Glarus Police Department was even targeted with a solicitation, officials said. 

The emails ominously warn the recipient that someone has been watching them through their webcam and/or knows about their alleged “venturing into the darker corners of cyberspace” and threaten to release related videos and images to their closest contacts if they do not receive an eventual payment.

“The emails contain the person’s full name, address, and phone number in the body of the email, an attached PDF that contains a photo of the person’s street (likely screenshotted from Google Maps), and a lengthy letter claiming that they’ve been watched through their webcam,” a press release about the scam said.  “I suggest you read this message carefully. Take a moment to chill, breathe, and analyze it thoroughly,” the message says, before further imploring the recipient to take immediate action.

At the end, it demands a Bitcoin ransom: “Your filthy secret will remain private. I will destroy all the data and evidence once you send payment.” 

The post, meanwhile, includes a QR code to scan with your smartphone to make a bitcoin payment. Authorities warn not to send anyone money or follow the instructions. Officials emphasize these emails are fake and do not have any real information. Their target lists likely come from data breaches.

“Mailing addresses, names, and cell phone numbers are exposed en masse all the time in data breaches and data broker hacks, which is likely where these extortionists got individual people’s addresses and emails,” the statement said. “But this one is a sophisticated operation, with the picture of your street adding to the spookiness.”