Posted on 02/11/2019 11:03:02 AM PST by LouieFisk
Those mails reach people from said breach, and they then see talk of somebody “knowing” their login details. That’s then used as leverage to claim the attacker has access to their PC, files, folders, webcams, browsing history—in a nutshell, anything personal and sensitive. The scarier they can make it sound, the better. In fact, one of the more eye-popping claims is that the scammer has video of the user viewing adult websites, and they will share this video with all the user’s contacts unless they pony up and pay a Bitcoin ransom.
(Excerpt) Read more at blog.malwarebytes.com ...
They are all basically scams and looking for some gullible person to rob. Ignore them.
Yup - unless you personally know an email sender, hit delete.
So not only is the scam obvious from the exotic claims (turning on the webcam, etc) but it is obviously a scam from the non-personalized payment.
I received one a week or two ago. My SPAM filter caught it. It’s a clever phishing technique, IMO.
Why in the world would you send them anything? You just encourage them.
Not phishing. They want you to send them money.
Used to work in IT Security. Every time I get a new computer, the very first thing I do is run to the store and get a little laptop camera cover (https://www.amazon.com/s?k=laptop+camera+cover&i=electronics&ref=nb_sb_noss_2). It is a simple piece of plastic with a hole for the camera, and then a sliding cover that allows you to let the camera take a pic when you want, but otherwise block the lens. It has probably been 10 years since I purposely allowed my computer camera to take a picture of me for any purpose. I would suggest everyone use something like this.
Better yet, my laptop doesn’t have a camera. My desktop has one, but it also has a built-in cover that that also serves as a power switch for the camera (when the cover is closed, the camera is off - I leave the cover closed).
If other potential victims look at the address they will see it is not unique, and therefore figure out it’s just a hoax. In any case I don’t think 50 cents is a lot of encouragement for the scammers. If my 50 cents is the only payment they have just as much risk trying to cash it as a higher amount.
I’ve got several email addresses and I’ve seen that email on each one. Always the same - we are professional hackers, we have horrible personal info about your perverted ways, we have your password, we’ll distribute that to everyone you know if you don’t pay 700 in bitcoin within 48 hrs. If I paid $700 for each message I’d have exhausted my savings and IRA by now.
Or you could have some fun with them.
:D
“This is what happens when you reply to spam email”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QdPW8JrYzQ
“Not phishing.”
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True - “phishing” technically refers to getting you to give up your login info for sites you use, e.g. your bank and Paypal.
But this accomplishes the same basic end - getting you to willingly hand over your money.
I heard that some people got bitcoin requests, as part of the Nigerian money scams. And that some instead of asking for money, they have asked for bitcoin.
Bitcoin apparently is harder to trace, harder to recover your money, if you get scammed? Is that true?
“Bitcoin apparently is harder to trace, harder to recover your money, if you get scammed? Is that true?”
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If you pay in Bitcoin, or any virtual currency for that matter, it’s gone. Can’t be traced. That’s why it’s so popular with scammers and what’s called “ransomware” - it encrypts everything in your device and destroys it unless you pay a ransom within x amount of time.
Thanks so much for that video, so very funny.
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