Scam Threatening mail

[JB007]

Hello,
I received a threatening mail saying that my account was hacked and that I was filmed with webcam watching pornographic sites. So I have 48 hours to pay 520€ with bitcoins or this photos and videos will be send to all my contacts !
I'm sure that I have already read some explanations about this kind of phishing but I'm not reassured.
I did not use a webcam and I did not go on pornographic sites, but I think that faked photos are possible.
What do you think ? and What can I do ?

 

[Lord Ami]

Just ignore it, it is utter garbage (spam).
Nothing to worry about.

 

[JB007]

Just ignore it, it is utter garbage (spam).
Nothing to worry about.

Thanks @Lord Ami

 

[Andrew999]

I got pretty much the same message as this probably about 4 months ago, but it was in English. It was flagged as Spam by Gmail though luckily. I pretty much knew it was a scam too, I don't even have a webcam.

 

[ForgottenSeer 77591]

Would there be a way of them knowing your online activities then targeting you or was it just your generic phishing scam?

 

[alakazam]

These things are getting more and more frequent. So many people getting these type of mails recently!

 

[Atlas147]

Check out Email Scams to see if the scam has been reported before.

Also it is extremely easy to tell if the spam has been sent to the masses or directed at you. Try looking at the message and seeing if they specify your name anywhere in the message, usually they don't because they send this to a large number of people. Another thing is that you say that you don't use a webcam, so how would the sender even take photos of you? How would the sender even know what you look like to fake the photos and send them to your contacts? How would the sender even gain access to your contacts?

I don't think you want to come here and post a thread every time you encounter something like this, so it would be good for you to start learning how to spot a phishing email.

 

[ForgottenSeer 77591]

I know that usually the only spam I get is caused by some of the free software I use like Avast Free.This is kind of off topic but I have phone,tv and internet through Comcast and find it strange that when I'm online that I get robocalls.Its not my imagination either.Maybe a subject for another day.

 

[JB007]

Check out Email Scams to see if the scam has been reported before.

Also it is extremely easy to tell if the spam has been sent to the masses or directed at you. Try looking at the message and seeing if they specify your name anywhere in the message, usually they don't because they send this to a large number of people. Another thing is that you say that you don't use a webcam, so how would the sender even take photos of you? How would the sender even know what you look like to fake the photos and send them to your contacts? How would the sender even gain access to your contacts?

I don't think you want to come here and post a thread every time you encounter something like this, so it would be good for you to start learning how to spot a phishing email.

Hello @Atlas147
Not a very friendly answer, even though I made a mistake with the rforum' rules by posting this topic.

 

[Jack]

Hello @Atlas147
Not a very friendly answer, even though I made a mistake with the rforum' rules by posting this topic.

Hey @JB007

You didn't do any mistakes... it's perfectly alright that you've posted this...Better safe than sorry!

Like the other members have said before me this is a spam email. Usually these scammers will get your email (and maybe an old password) from one of the many data breaches. You can check on Have I Been Pwned: Check if your email has been compromised in a data breach if you email was involved in a data breach.
With that said you should not send any money to these scammers, and you should definitely change your password and enable 2FA wherever is possible. Also there is no need to worry as the scammers didn't have access to your PC, they're just sending these emails to all the contacts that they have and hope that someone will fall for this.

 

[JB007]

Hey @JB007

You didn't do any mistakes... it's perfectly alright that you've posted this...Better safe than sorry!

Like the other members have said before me this is a spam email. Usually these scammers will get your email (and maybe an old password) from one of the many data breaches. You can check on Have I Been Pwned: Check if your email has been compromised in a data breach if you email was involved of a data breach.
With that said you should not send any money to these scammers, and you should definitely change your password and enable 2FA wherever is possible. Also there is no need to worry as the scammers didn't have access to your PC, they're just sending these emails to all the contacts that they have and hope that someone will fall for this.

Thanks @Jack
I just checked my address and got :
Good news — no pwnage found!

 

[upnorth]

I agree with @Jack and your always more then welcome to ask about things like this.

 

[JB007]

I agree with @Jack and your always more then welcome to ask about things like this.

Thanks @upnorth

 

[Weebarra]

Every piece of advice i have read here on MT @JB007 is just to ignore it. So many people have had these emails and because of the nature of them, they start to panic about what could happen, even though the sites supposedly visited are complete and utter nonsense so please follow the advice given above and rest easy. It's good that you posted because sometimes posts get lost in among all the others and someone may miss the information or advice given so you have brought it to the forefront again and it will hopefully help others.

 

[StrikeFIN]

It's just spam with more aggressive writing way, ignore it.

Whatever they write it's just spam in way, don't pay. They just want to scare you and trying desperately make you pay for criminals.

Of course you can send these for analysis for local police cyber team (or just to police, they will handle them to right place), right way to go against criminals is not pay for criminals, and let police know about these things.

It seem like these things have become more common now after collection 2-5 leaks...

 

[JB007]

Every piece of advice i have read here on MT @JB007 is just to ignore it. So many people have had these emails and because of the nature of them, they start to panic about what could happen, even though the sites supposedly visited are complete and utter nonsense so please follow the advice given above and rest easy. It's good that you posted because sometimes posts get lost in among all the others and someone may miss the information or advice given so you have brought it to the forefront again and it will hopefully help others.

Thanks @Weebarra for your kind words

 

[pisondi]

Hello. I also got this email identical as yours on my gmail but it was written in english. The fact is that i have disabled my webcam from years and i don't have accounts on porn sites.

 

[Burrito]

Would there be a way of them knowing your online activities then targeting you ...?

Yes, you can be spear-phished. It just takes a lot more time and effort for the bad guys... it's very inefficient. So it's kind of rare.

There are attempts to spear-phish celebrities and politicians all the time.

 

[notabot]

Some friends received the same email (in English) a few months back, one email mentioned a password not in use for 10 years as proof of the 3l143 h4x0r skillz - just ignore the email, you’re safe. probably someone’s messing with leaked emails (and passwords) from some data breach

 

[Ink]

Spam / Scam to lure unaware computer users. All they care about is getting your money.