bitcoin being used for Extortion; Bitcoin is an accomplice to criminal activity

[SleeplessInSanAntonio]

I just received an email from the Ashley-Madison Hackers demanding payment in bit coin.

I am a widower and was on that site to meet people.  Not for casual extramarital affairs.

here is their email:

we're the Moral Team.

As you may already know, Avid Life Media Inc. runs immoral portals like Established Men and Ashley Madison. In relation to your payment of 19.00 by Visa with last digits 2660 for your ADL Media Inc  membership, we are very pleased to announce you what will follow.

You have two options.

Alternative 1:

We will publish your complete data (secret fantasies, conversations, pictures...) and will match the data with your name Robert H Bretz and address at 615 Patricia San Antonio TX 78216 US on our new site. Family, friends and colleague will get an information about you. We are deeply grateful for Facebook and the others.

Alternative 2:

We are providing a chance to solve this case. You make a payment of 2.0 Bitcoins to 1QCA7DkBSFP6zGEMejPfqLkcoCi8MzeYKd - btc address. The time ends in four days. We will not publish your data and we will not inform your contacts.

You can get bitcoins at an exchange like Expresscoin.com, Localbitcoins.com, Clevercoin.com, Coincorner.com, Coincafe.com, Coinbase.com, Circle.com or a Bitcoin ATM machine Coinatmradar.com.

If you pay within four days of receipt then we will delete your record. No payment? Then you will see what happen after this period. Once this period has expired, we can't do anything more for you. Our website is launching soon. We will surprise your family, friends and colleague with it. We will give you this one last chance.

All the best

Moral Team


I have no problem with them exposing hypocrites.

If my information is published I will drag them through the media and court system.  I will also name bitcoin as an accomplice in a criminal activity.

[jbc_gunner]

I received the same email earlier today.  Apparently blackmail is moral in the eyes of these guys!

[Foxpup]

I'd advise against that, to avoid embarrassing yourself further. Only a person can be prosecuted for criminal acts. Bitcoin is not a person. Bitcoin is a currency. If the ransom were demanded in dollars, would you claim the U.S. Dollar is an accomplice? That would make just as much sense. In fact, Bitcoin may serve as a useful tool for investigators, as Bitcoin transactions are traceable and converting bitcoins to legal tender without leaving a paper trail is harder than most people imagine (but not impossible). You should immediately contact the police and a lawyer for advice on how to proceed if you have not done so already.

[SleeplessInSanAntonio]

Bitcoin is a COMPANY, owned by a people. They can be included in the charges as coconspirators to commit extortion unless they close down the account and turn over the account owners information.

I will have no problem going public to stop these scum.  I am a widower and have no kids.  Most of my friends and family know I was on dating sites after my wife died.  So I have nothing to lose; they do.

[Foxpup]

Bitcoin is not a company, it has no owners, there are no accounts to close, no account owners, and no information to turn over. Either you have been misinformed, or you're not informed at all and you're just looking for someone to sue (and failing at it).

[DebitMe]

I had a guy contact me through localbitcoins today looking for 2 btc and sounding really unsure about the whole thing.  He ended up divulging that he had received this exact same email and I talked with him about it for a bit.  He still wanted to buy the 2 bitcoins and have my help sending them as it would be easier than rehashing the whole AM thing again.

Made me sad, he was a really nice guy who made a bad decision when him and his wife broke up 6 years ago.  And now its coming back to haunt him.

I guess what I am saying is, the reason they do this is because it works.  I am sure he isn't the first person to send bitcoins and I highly doubt the last.  For the record before people jump and call me a bad person, I thoroughly explained what bitcoin is, how it works, and that after he sends it that there is no guarantee the person will do what they say they will do.  Basically nothing can be done, but he wanted to anyway.  Really made me sad for the guy.

[gentlemand]

This leaked info is accessible by everyone. Ergo if you pay the 'ransom' there's nothing to stop 50,000 other people tapping the same info and demanding money too.

As for the OP, suing the internet will be just as effective, or rather ineffective. No one owns or controls Bitcoin.

[Yofun]

Eh.

http://www.theverge.com/2015/8/18/9174381/ashley-madison-hack-data-released-by-hackers

[koinsuka]

bitcoin is prone infiltrated by hackers or perpetrators of
crimes that take advantage of the weak transaction trace
detection

[NorrisK]

I feel for you man. However, I would never ever pay ransom in a case like this.

Especially since all the info is already out on the street.

If they were asking for fiat cash, would you press the matter than USD is being used as a method for ransom? Probably not. Please leave bitcoin out of it.

[bitbaby]

If you want to sue anyone then do the Ashley Madison people for letting themselves get hacked on a site which had people doing naughty things with their sensitive personal information on it but I understand how you feel if you think you can get anything out of dragging this through court & media and saying that Bitcoin is an accomplice then go ahead, you wouldn't be the first person to do it. Bitcoin is a digital currency and as Fiat it is used by good and bad people.

I will recommend you to NOT pay anything and contact Cops. It's not the Bitcoin which is a problem here, it's the Hackers and basically everyone should understand this that whenever you're uploading your personal data to any website, it's not safe anymore.

[ashour]

I recommend you to first contact the police or the cyber security forces of your land before proceeding with any other steps. This email might not be by the Ashley Madison hackers, it might be just scammers who try to steal money from you.

[Hugroll]

I recommend you to first contact the police or the cyber security forces of your land before proceeding with any other steps. This email might not be by the Ashley Madison hackers, it might be just scammers who try to steal money from you.

exactly, i doubt theyll expose you. imo not worth spending $500

[odolvlobo]

I will also name bitcoin as an accomplice in a criminal activity.

That's makes as much sense as naming the dollar as an accomplice.

I had a guy contact me through localbitcoins today looking for 2 btc and sounding really unsure about the whole thing.  He ended up divulging that he had received this exact same email and I talked with him about it for a bit.  He still wanted to buy the 2 bitcoins and have my help sending them as it would be easier than rehashing the whole AM thing again.

Did you know that you are required to file a suspicious activity report on him? That's F'ed up. One of the charges against the CoinMX guys is that they didn't file a SAR on a cryptolocker victim that they sold bitcoins to.

https://bitcoinmagazine.com/21334/fbi-arrests-coin-mx-founders-money-laundering-violations/

[cleeon]

I read the case, look like it's come from a group, which same activities like another email which try to get some money from other peoples.

I recommend, if can just ignore them or block their email address/mark it as spam.

[gogxmagog]

i was selling LSD to this cute teenage girl. she was buying tons of it and getting high every weekend. then i met her dad (a preacher) and got an idea. I told her that I would tell her church-y dad that she was a drug fiend unless she had sex with me. she agreed and blew my mind!

Now, I implicate sexual intercourse as an accomplice in EXTORTION

who's the hypocrite now?

[bitcoinbettingtips]

bitcoin is used for Extortion so Bitcoin is an accomplice to criminal activity

We can say

A car is used for a criminal to get away so a car is an accomplice to criminal activity