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'Sextortion' Scam Hitting Email Inboxes Worldwide

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Officials issued a scam alert on Monday, claiming people were using "sextortion" to cash in on victims.

Investigators say scam artists are sending emails to people, threatening to release videos of them watching adult videos if they don't pay up using Bitcoin.

The scammers then show one of your passwords in hopes you'll give up even more of your own information. Experts say while the cyber criminals don't have real videos of you, they do have one of your real passwords possibly hacked during a security breach.

"We could see variations of this coming forward," said Laura Hautala from CNET. "You might get an email that's a bit more convincing, that has your current password or something really recent."

Experts say your best bet is to just ignore emails from anyone you don't know, especially if they're demanding money.

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