scam email

cossie2

received a scam email , looking for bit coins as payment. normally i wouldnt bat an eye at these, but this quoted the last 4 digits of my phone number. yes i was watching some naughty stuff! does anyone have any advice on what to do? have attached a copy of the email

C.O.Y.B.I.B

cossie2 wrote: »

received a scam email , looking for bit coins as payment. normally i wouldnt bat an eye at these, but this quoted the last 4 digits of my phone number. yes i was watching some naughty stuff! does anyone have any advice on what to do? have attached a copy of the email

As with all.of these extortion type scams , ignore . I had similar one which went to a hotmail account and had my name .
If they wanted to convince you to pay they'd have included a screenshot , which obviously they don't have .
Chances are they got your info from a big hack somewhere . They also don't have your full number or would have included that also .
Relax and ignore it . If software did exist to do this , we would see a lot more of these extortions .

C.O.Y.B.I.B

C.O.Y.B.I.B wrote: »

As with all.of these extortion type scams , ignore . I had similar one which went to a hotmail account and had my name .
If they wanted to convince you to pay they'd have included a screenshot , which obviously they don't have .
Chances are they got your info from a big hack somewhere . They also don't have your full number or would have included that also .
Relax and ignore it . If software did exist to do this , we would see a lot more of these extortions .

One thing to add as I see .217 BTC has already been paid over to this scammer. If they did have all the information they claim , why would they stop and why would they not chase you again in 6 months or 6 years .

the_syco

cossie2 wrote: »

normally i wouldnt bat an eye at these, but this quoted the last 4 digits of my phone number.

There's a form somewhere that lists peoples usernames, passwords, etc. It's about 2-4 years old, and most of the emails were sent a similar email, citing old passwords, or, as in your case, other details.

But some people don't change their passwords, ever. So they see their current password, and pay. By paying, you confirm that that's still your password, and the scammer will check if your email is linked to anything else, and try the password against there as well. Paypal, for example. Buy a few high value items that are really worth nothing (football cards, purporting to be rare, on ebay used to be one), but the funds come out, and then the proceeds are sent somewhere that the bank can't charge back.

It's an effective scam. Fairly low risk. But that someone found a way to exploit people from a list which is highly likely old.

This is low hanging fruit being exploited correctly.

Fuzzy Logic

I too got the same email a few weeks back and in the body it contained an old password I would have used. For a few hours I felt wiped out wondering what the hell could this person have on me but then I said I'd leave it to see what shows up. Nothing ever has or ever will and now I can look back and laugh at the email I got.

AndrewJRenko

Fuzzy Logic wrote: »

I too got the same email a few weeks back and in the body it contained an old password I would have used. For a few hours I felt wiped out wondering what the hell could this person have on me but then I said I'd leave it to see what shows up. Nothing ever has or ever will and now I can look back and laugh at the email I got.

The password leak probably came from one of the known high profile leaks. You can check to see if your details have been leaked in the past;


https://haveibeenpwned.com/

mcardler

I got a similar email this morning but in this case the email appeared to come from my own email account (just to prove my account was hacked). What really gave me the shakes was when the hacker showed me my password - it was an old password I used in the past but gosh did it shock me. Anyway this guy was only looking for $800 - otherwise he was going to expose me. A wake-up call as regards regularly changing passwords.

AndrewJRenko

https://www.hoax-slayer.net/your-future-friend-or-enemy-sextortion-scam-email/

Reati

cossie2 wrote: »

received a scam email , looking for bit coins as payment. normally i wouldnt bat an eye at these, but this quoted the last 4 digits of my phone number. yes i was watching some naughty stuff! does anyone have any advice on what to do? have attached a copy of the email

You do 3 things

1. Charge your phone. You battery is low in those screenshot.
2. Ignore it as nothing is going to happen.
3. Share the link to the video. Was it good?

anewme

I've got that email about five times now, with a very old password. It's the exact same text as this one .

It appears to be from the Linkedin breach. Few in work got it as well.

I was not watching any crap so I knew it was a scam from the get go.

TheBoyConor

I would say take the advise the scale has offered in the last line of his email....

"Don't waste your time by replying to this message"