Sextortion Emails

Yesterday, I got my university's news bulletin which had an item warning us not to respond to a sextortion email that some colleagues had received. Apparently, the email subject line contains an old or current university account password to freak the recipient. It demanded a ransom in exchange for footage of the recipient watching porn on their computer. One of my colleagues, who is in her fifties, and has never watched online porn, got the email. My sister had got a similar email last year.
It almost seems that such emails target people who have never watched online porn. Maybe they figure that regular porn watchers are not easily shamed. Unless they are into really dodgy stuff. While we are on the subject, I should inform you that porn websites are banned in India. As I was telling my colleague, this is peak irony. One would figure that a people renowned for their tech savvy and their almost obsessive fondness for porn would find a way around the ban. All it takes is a Virtual Private Network to get around the ban. There are free VPNs available or you can buy one for a few hundred rupees if you want a reliable connection. How do I know? Because Spotify, the streaming music  service, is banned in India, I need a UK VPN to be able to access my account. Or, maybe I am a consumer of online porn. You pick whichever reason you fancy.