Police in the Belarussian city of Hrodna were surprised when a local man came in to pay a fine he believed he had been slapped with for watching online porn.
The fine turned out to be a computer scam targeting smut lovers across Belarus, local news website Tut.by said Monday.
The scam utilizes malware that locks down users' computers and informs them that they have been issued with a police fine for watching porn.
The victims are told to transfer a million Belarussian rubles ($93) to an e-wallet named by scammers or face criminal prosecution.
But the man in Hrodna did not know how to use an e-wallet, and so went down to his local police precinct, only to find officials in his authoritarian country did not care about his porn habits.
Police estimate the scammers have so far extorted at least 40 million Belarussian rubles ($3,700) from gullible porn lovers. An investigation is ongoing.
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