MARQUETTE — Police have received complaints of an email scam in which scammers threaten to release pictures and video of the victim viewing pornographic material if they don’t receive payment.

In a Thursday press release, the Marquette County Sheriff’s Office and the Northern Michigan University Police Department said scammers are contacting people and threatening to send pictures and videos of the victim viewing pornographic images to the victim’s contacts if they don’t pay the scammer Bitcoins, or cryptocurrency.

The scammer first tells the victim his or her password, which police said was most likely obtained through the hacking of a legitimate website. The scammer then uses the knowledge of the victim’s password to claim they have evidence of pornographic online activity, which would be disclosed to the victim’s contacts if the blackmail isn’t paid.

Police said if anyone receives an email with this type of threat, they should change all online passwords and monitor credit reports for suspicious activity in case their personal information was compromised.