Poorly-spelled blackmail attempt

Digital Safety
1

I haven’t looked in my spam directory in ages. I just did, and holy crap someone is trying to blackmail me, because they know how to change their email from attribute.

This came in, forwarded from an email I only have forwarding set up on, so the possibility this is real is zero, for that and other reasons.

Text below!

Hi, your account was recently infected! Modify your password this time!
You probably do not heard about me and you really are certainly wanting to know for what reason you are getting this email, is it right?
I am ahacker who exploitedyour email boxand devices and gadgetsa few months ago.
You should not make an attempt to contact me or find me, it is definitely impossible, considering that I forwarded you this message from YOUR own hacked account.
I’ve developed malware software on the adult vids (porn) site and suppose that you have watched this site to enjoy it (you know what I mean).
While you were paying attention to vids, your internet browser started out operating as a RDP (Remote Control) with a keylogger that granted me the ability to access your monitor and web camera.
Next step, my software programgotall info.
You have entered passcodes on the websites you visited, and I intercepted all of them.
Surely, it’s possible to change them, or have already modified them.
Even so it does not matter, my malware updates information every 5 minutes.
What actually did I do?
I compiled a backup of every your device. Of all the files and contacts.
I formed a dual-screen videofile. The 1 screen displays the clip you were watching (you’ve an interesting taste, ahah…), the 2nd screen shows the video from your webcam.
What exactly should you do?
Clearly, I think, 1000 USD is a good amount of money for our little secret. You will make your payment by bitcoins (if you do not understand this, go searching “how to buy bitcoin” in any search engine).
My bitcoin wallet address:
1PLBZzyugHZr1JLrQEkmN6iccj8jyw1s3f
(It is cAsE sensitive, so just copy and paste it).
Attention:
You will have 48 hours to perform the payment. (I have an exclusive pixel to this e-mail, and at the moment I understand that you have read this email).
To tracethe reading of a messageand the activityinside it, I installeda Facebook pixel. Thanks to them. (Everything thatis usedfor the authorities should helpus.)
In case I fail to get bitcoins, I’ll undoubtedly direct your video files to each of your contacts, such as relatives, co-workers, and many more?

I’ve gotten ~ 1 of these a day for 20 days.

1 Like
2

I saw discussion of this on SDF a while back.

In case I fail to get bitcoins, I’ll undoubtedly direct your video files to each of your contacts, such as relatives, co-workers, and many more?

Emphasis mine. Sentence started out strong, and then kinda, “I’m Ron Jeremy?'d” at the end there…

3

sometimes these kind of scammers also include an old password of yours to spook you even more, probably purchased on the cents from an old unsalted hash dump.

i just don’t understand who they expect to fall for this that also owns any bitcoin.

4

I’ve gotten a lot of these lately all using old passwords to prove their authenticity. I’ve been meaning to make a new email rule based around common old passwords I used to use; before I moved to random passwords in a password manager.

EFF recirculated an older article they did on these scams recently. I think it was this one: Sextortion Scam: What to Do If You Get the Latest Phishing Spam Demanding Bitcoin | Electronic Frontier Foundation

I think this is a function of bitcoin becoming bizarely more and more accessible to the general public and the numbers game around the scam itself.

I am reminded by skeezy dudes in my youth who used to explain to me that sex is a numbers game. The more people you make a move on, the more likely it becomes youll find someone who might accept the advance.

Even if the success rate is fractions of a percent low. When your working with the population of say every yahoo user who ever existed and the cost of automating the attack is low, you only need a very small handfull of payouts to make it profitable.

5

I got one of those too. I didn’t know what to think at first, but then I looked at the EFF site about it and realized it was just something I could ignore. Unfortunately I’m sure a small percent of people fell for it, as you said. In any case, it reminded me to keep up my security and to put on 2 Factor Auth for as many things as possible.

6

amazing! i’m so glad that everything that is used for the authorities helps us!!!

7

My brain does this thing when I read their words, like, “are you having a stoke?!” If someone spoke like that, I’d be concerned for them.

1 Like