Topic: Hacker blackmailing me and ask for money. Did you also get this email? - page 2. (Read 438 times)

If someone was actually blackmailing you, they'd show you the blackmailing materials immediately instead of saying "yeah I totally have it, don't even try to ask for proof". They'd also refer to you by your name, though this alone is not enough, cause many people have public profiles with their real names, and during database breaches this info gets stolen. Even if you will receive a real blackmailing email, it's better to contact authorities rather than immediately complying with criminal's demands.

That's the type of fear that blakcmailers feed on. But in reality if someone plants malware on your computer then camera is probably going to be the least of your worries. They'd be sniffing for passwords etc. There is very little benefit from hijacking the camera. It might be of interest in certain targeted attacks but is generally not very useful for a widespread malware extortion racket.

They may have send this type of mail to many people and asking for the money. These people keep doing such attempts to collect money and they are successful too. Some may send money to these scammers which make them feel that this is an easy way to get money out of people's pocket. People needs to be educated and understand what the hacker can or cannot do with the information he has.

But AFAIK, and in my opinion, this kind of hacking of the computer's camera is pretty possible. Though it's not a simple task for the hacker, it's still can be done. But it will just be activated once you've been affected by malware that access your computer's camera. Obvious prevention for this kind of malware is to be much careful when surfing  the internet, whether through clicking suspicious links or connecting into a public wifi.

Just don't be afraid of these kind of blackmail even if they got your video and accessed your account will not cause you any trouble unless you are a public figure/celebrity.But next time you should be careful when clicking any links, normally these kind of attacks were happening on skype video calls now they also got evolved.

I had also recieved a similar email few month back demanding me the same amount to be paid in Bitcoin. The hacker never wrote that he has my account details but told me that they would hack my email and also my devices if I did not pay the amount.

I am still waiting for them to do it so that I can trace their IP address and report it to the authorities.

I know these guys are spammers who are trying to extort money by threatening me as a hacker will always hack first and then ask for money.

Consider it a PSA. If you're still using that particular password anywhere - you should change it. Other than that the "hacker" has nothing on you. I wouldn't go changing every other password because that may cause more trouble than it's worth.

Another tips (after you changed your password and use more privacy browser). If you want to check your email is breached or not, you can use these sites :
1. https://haveibeenpwned.com/
2. https://monitor.firefox.com/

those sites will give detailed information which websites your email data was breached from.
And one legendary tips. Always close the camera on your laptop or turned off your laptop camera or unplug your webcam when not in use. You can use tape to cover the camera on your laptop.

If you are Win 10 user, check the camera permission in setting.

There is a thread on the forum that takes about password spraying and maybe, this generic message could also be sent in that order. It could have been sprayed on varying emails and await some potential victim to comply.
Probably they got your password through what ever means as they've always had some way but then, it's a warning upon you now to carefully check your activities properly not to be a victim of phishing platforms.
And one thing I know and believe strongly is that, giving in to blackmails supposing it's true doesn't make it go away. It's either you become an office always ready to supply to your blackmailer and in due time, the publicity of what you intend to hide would go out.
So why the heck should you comply...?

I've been receiving this kind of email I guess since a year ago due to the publicity of the email of my website. One time I read something like "I see you vids on your webcam bla bla, so send me bitcoin so you will be pardon" and I just ignore them or simply they just eventually go to the spam folder.

This is just a generic extortion email sent by crooks to scare you into sending them BTC. They didn't actually hack anything, and even the email address of the sender is a fake email and not actually hacked.

They really did get your old password but only .because it was in a database leaked a while ago. It doesn't even have to be your bitcointalk password, it could be the passaord of any service that was breahed, and they just scrape all the email addresses in the database that has passwords in them and send them this extortion email.

They just assume everyone in the database watches porn and is vulnerable to thinking that someone else spied on them. They made an extortion campaign like that in 2018 and made off with hundreds of thousands of dollars but this present heist has been lackluster, and people don't seem to be falling for it this time around.

There is even an extortion campaign threatening to give you coronavirus: https://www.welivesecurity.com/2020/04/17/scams-lies-coronavirus/ apparently the crooks are desparate for money but even the most dim-witted victims don't believe someonw on the internet can come to them in real life and infect rhem

@OcTradism, none of these steps are actually necessay because OP wasn't infected today or recently, they did not steal the current password either, so there is nothing to worry about.

The email came a few days ago. So I did not worried about the last night.  But surely I was worrying about how they know the password.

I am also don't care to read spam folders. Even I did not notice it for a few months. Today suddenly I visit and see the password of mine. I was shocked then. 

If you receive such black emails, the first thing you should do is change passwords of your account on another device if you have.

However, remember this step does not truly help you because if you do it on your compromised devices, it does not make much sense. It is a very first step to prevent them attack your accounts immediately. So your new passwords should be wipen out later when you completely clear your devices.

How to clear your devices? Install good AV softwares. Scan all drives.

After scanning process, and delete all threats are detected, the next important step is install your operating system.

After installation finishes, rescan your devices with AV softwares again.

Last step is to change all your passwords again (no replicated formats, templates). Totally new passwords.

[GUIDE] How to Create a Strong/Secure Password

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I agree with Jet Cash that I don't read emails from strange addresses.

I don't even bother to read those emails.

The fact that he's worried about it makes me think what he was doing in the early hours of the night

This has been going on for month on end now. It’s an email that has got a couple of variants, but the same essence. Simply ignore it. There’s no truth to it (or is there …) except for the fact that they got hold of some darkweb database with emails and old passwords that go with it (at least the emails I got displayed a 8++ year old password).

P.D. Not a Meta topic really… (perhaps B&H).
 
See:
Report Bitcoin spam (scam) and other coin addresses!
Do not send bitcoins to extortionists

Edit: A bunch o variants: https://www.pcrisk.com/removal-guides/14321-i-know-is-one-of-your-pass-email-scam#quicksol (note that no need to remove anything, despite the path)

Today, after many days I checked my spam folder in any case. And I was shocked because I see someone sends me my old Password. And blackmailing me to send him/her $1006. See below the screenshot of that email.





Email comes from
So maybe you can not understand how was my condition that time. I could not understand what should I do that time. I was not worrying about the video of webcam because I know it’s totally fake but I did worry about the password and how they actually know that. Quickly I change all my passwords. And search on the internet with the address what the hacker sent me.


After searching on google I see I am not the only one who received this email. And the address already reported on https://www.bitcoinabuse.com/reports/1CcRhmdTHVaAjYqQbvkEPmMV4YymkS4efg

Also checked the address on blockchair. Fortunately till now nobody sent any fund to this address.

So my suggestions to all the victims to not send any fund to them. And always keep safe your password. Don’t use your one password more than one place.

You can read this also to aware of these blackmails : https://www.bitcoinabuse.com/faq