Blackmail Email from Scammer

rockits

Member
Messages
9,180
exactly, it's not just a password, it's life changing in some cases if compromised with regards to fraud/banking etc, the few important passwords such as banking I can simply recall from memory, all the rest I simply refer to my file, I don't trust all this techy stuff on computers, think the yoof of today put too much credence in to it and having only one or two passwords throughout, crazy
Agreed. I have no idea how many passwords logins to sites I have but bar a few old ones they are all min 12 character upper/lower case with a number. All are unique and I'm guessing there must be 500+.

At least with unique passwords they can only compromise one site/login. The potential damage is small and reduced. I am not sure I agree with all this single login with your Google or FB account. I don't do it. Seems a large exposure/risk to me.
 

Wanderer

Member
Messages
5,791
One of my first even system passwords was on a SCO Openserver (Unix) box, it was auto-generated, must be mid-90's and my password was 'jik-ter-eid' Funny how I remember that but can't remember what I just went into the kitchen for.
 

lifes2short

Member
Messages
5,846
but can't remember what I just went into the kitchen for.

to do some baking no doubt, you have any flour/yeast to spare, why is everyone a fooking baker now, the mrs cant get any flour or yeast anywhere, she even sent me out with no luck
 

Sommi

Member
Messages
430
For those who are interested in how much data is harnessed from various sources and sold on the darkweb, please look at the below infographics.
I use these as part of my campaigns scare the sh*t out of people.

https://informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/worlds-biggest-data-breaches-hacks/

This is will tell you whether your data is out there if any of the mentioned compromised services were used by you as a member.
Combine this with haveibeenpwned.com and you will get a fair picture.

All scammers, phishing and malware ones included, want to make money like any one else. The email received was possibly spambot generated at the rate of a few 1000 per hour. Over a year even if .0001% get sucked in, the scammers get to make a tidy sum!
 

CatmanV2

Member
Messages
48,879
As a reminder to cover your camera when not in use it serves a pretty good purpose. What would you say are the article's top errors? I'm not disagreeing with you, by the way - this is your bailiwick, not mine.

However that in itself is pretty pointless as reminders go ;)

Let's start with: You don't take control of someone's camera by disabling the in light. That's just something else that can be done. My current workhorse doesn't even have an on light
None of your device cameras 'remain unsecured' Unless your computer is unsecured..... They're conflating stand alone IP cams with computer connected cameras
RAT would be a route to camfecting but it's gonna take over the whole machine.
I've not had a retail service offer remote tech support for years.

It's just really really badly put together.

The rules are the same. Practice safe surfing and when you get a new device, change the passwords :)

PS if anyone wants their company Cyber Essentials certified, a couple of us can help. This will give you a good baseline from an outside source to demonstrate you have basic Cybersecurity best practice in place and offers insurance in the event of an attack. Feel free to ping me...

C
 

2b1ask1

Special case
Messages
20,291
I run Avast free antivirus, what are peoples thoughts on the security upgrade they nag you to buy at least 3 times a day? worth it or are there (probably) better systems to get?

In particular I'm interested in VPN.
 

Sam McGoo

Member
Messages
1,782
They must be bored with lock down. Previously, I'd had these emails about 3 times in the last year, but I had them 4 times this week now!
It did prompt me to finally change the passwords on the remaining 32 sites I'd used that particular password on, after doing the important ones when I first got the email a year ago.
I'm using the google recommended ones on most sites now, as I use chrome on most of my devices anyway.
 

2b1ask1

Special case
Messages
20,291
Certainly a quick look at the upgrade check boxes wouldn't get me thrilled

C

cheers C, I’ve been pondering it for too long, I have recently had a case of identity fraud opening a credit account in my name, it has sharpened my resolve a bit as three months in I’m no closer it seems to getting it expunged from my credit file!
 

CatmanV2

Member
Messages
48,879
cheers C, I’ve been pondering it for too long, I have recently had a case of identity fraud opening a credit account in my name, it has sharpened my resolve a bit as three months in I’m no closer it seems to getting it expunged from my credit file!

Feel free to give me a holler, chap.

C
 

Felonious Crud

Administrator
Staff member
Messages
21,227
cheers C, I’ve been pondering it for too long, I have recently had a case of identity fraud opening a credit account in my name, it has sharpened my resolve a bit as three months in I’m no closer it seems to getting it expunged from my credit file!

I'm still waiting for a scammer to open a savings account in my name. Perhaps they can pay in Phil's bitcoin blackmail money.
 

JonW

Member
Messages
3,262
So guys, I need the help of anyone technical, I have received a blackmail email from someone to my email address. He wants £2000 in bitcoins to "go away".
The only thing I am concerned about is that he HAS learned one of my popular passwords. He has that correct.
Any suggestions? I am obviously not going to pay him but how did he get it? I only use the password he knows on websites like this one.

This is his email to me .......................

I do know, **, is your pass word.

I require your full attention for the upcoming Twenty-four hrs, or I will make sure you that you live out of shame for the rest of your life.

Hello there, you do not know me. However I know every thing concerning you. Your personal fb contact list, smartphone contacts plus all the digital activity on your computer from past 148 days.

Consisting of, your self pleasure video footage, which brings me to the main reason why I am composing this e mail to you.

Well the last time you visited the **** material web sites, my malware ended up being activated inside your computer system which ended up shooting a eye-catching video footage of your self pleasure act by triggering your web camera.
(you got a tremendously odd taste by the way haha)

I have the whole recording. If, perhaps you feel I 'm messing around, simply reply proof and I will be forwarding the particular recording randomly to 5 people you know.

It could be your friend, co workers, boss, parents (I'm not sure! My software program will randomly select the contacts).

Would you be able to look into anyone's eyes again after it? I doubt it...

Nonetheless, doesn't necessarily have to be that way.

I want to make you a one time, non negotiable offer.

Get USD 2000 in bitcoin and send it to the listed below address:

bc1***q8qcmpkmvacu5w2jw64tfhglcg70sdy0wsc6094
[CASE SENSITIVE copy and paste it, and remove *** from it]

(If you don't know how, google how to buy bitcoin. Do not waste my important time)

His email address was dpconstantasbp@outlook.com
I hate scammers so any help gratefully received
Phil

i just had exactly the same email in my inbox...

luckily I read this thread several days/weeks ago!
 

JonW

Member
Messages
3,262
The password listed on my scam email was not the password I currently use on here, and was a very old one from various different sites (I can’t recall if I ever used it on here)…

I know I was part of the big British Airways hack of data, so there’s definitely some of my information floating around on the “dark web“ or whatever it’s called
 

philw696

Member
Messages
25,589
Wow another interesting read.
I use the same password for everything and never had a problem.
When I used AOL back in the early days used to get all-sorts of junk mail but since using Gmail for a long time now no issues for me but stand to be corrected.
 

CatmanV2

Member
Messages
48,879
Some people wondered they'd been hacked. They hadn't

For perspective my mother asks if she's been hacked if she hits 'reply to all' and sees a name she doesn't recognise.

There have been so many data breaches that the new normal is your data will leak.

I was on a webinar earlier this week. in 2019 7.9 billion records were exposed (not really hacked, just left lying around. A bit like if you leave your door wide open, you're not really going to broken into) in unsecured databases. That's more than one record per person alive.

2019 was the worst year to date for breaches. Basically if you lose more than a million records at once, you won't even make the needle move.

C
 

conaero

Forum Owner
Messages
34,646
FYI all the passwords stored on this sites database are encrypted.

If anyone was to get access to the database, they would not be able to decipher the passwords.

The only way someone could get it is if your computer had adware on it that recorded your keyboard monitored/recorded your keyboard input.

Two years ago I created a new email address and signed up on here with a totally new password. I have never used that password again.

I have never received a spam email in that account.

This was done to indicate if the data ever got compromised which it hasn’t.

Please do not suggest SM has been the source without proof nor put urls or email addresses on this forum from known issue sites as Google will index that content and flag our site.

I have gone through and deleted any that do.
 
Messages
349
Password programs like LastPass. 1Password or Sticky Password are the way to go.
There is no such thing as a secure password, as they are not usually compromised by guessing but rather by cracking a database of use names and passwords.

You cannot prevent the compromise of a single password, but you can limit the damage by having a different password on every site. Hence the need for a solid password storage app, or a brain with a built in cipher.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Phil the Brit

Member
Messages
1,499
FYI all the passwords stored on this sites database are encrypted.

If anyone was to get access to the database, they would not be able to decipher the passwords.

The only way someone could get it is if your computer had adware on it that recorded your keyboard monitored/recorded your keyboard input.

Two years ago I created a new email address and signed up on here with a totally new password. I have never used that password again.

I have never received a spam email in that account.

This was done to indicate if the data ever got compromised which it hasn’t.

Please do not suggest SM has been the source without proof nor put urls or email addresses on this forum from known issue sites as Google will index that content and flag our site.

I have gone through and deleted any that do.

Well I guess you didn't like my post then as it was deleted by you.
I think I said that there were several car sites where I had used password and did not know which one could have been the one. I did not accuse SM but questioned whether there had been any breaches. With 7.9 billion records breached in 2019 alone it is not wrong for members here or any other site to ask questions. I am sure you are uber vigilant in keeping security of site in good order but mistakes can happen anywhere. The fact that you have never received a spam email to one email address you put up is hardly a robust test of site security is it?
Always remember "supression leads to suspicion".
Just my 2 cents and I accuse SM of nothing in this post.