'I know you cheated on your wife.' Growing blackmail scam demands payment in BTC

[LeGaulois]

I wouldn't enjoy if it was my wife who found such letter. Imagine the mess.
This is the letter a guy received in the mailbox, after he notified the police, he decided to publish an article on his blog. With a surprise, he figured that he wasn't alone to receive such letter asking for Bitcoin.

The scammer is sending multiple letters across the country with the hope someone really cheated on his wife and accept to pay the $2,000 worth of bitcoin, now asking $8,000
Now The FBI and other authorities are looking after this scammer





watch the video https://www.cnbc.com/video/2018/01/22/growing-blackmail-scam-demands-payment-in-bitcoin.html

[sabine80]

its realy crazy. scamers try every way to get some bitcoins from victoms. this is the first time i saw this e-mail. i'm curious if i will eventually get such an e-mail.

[Mister k]

Is there really people who fall for this kind of stuff ? It always amazes me how naive people can be. Just like all those emails coming from rich persons who need you to cash their money and, of course, want to give you some of it, but you have first to pay them for that... 

[KobeBriant 24]

So what is this shit? Another attempt to copy the "ramsonware" only that with a laughable letter?

The scammer is sending multiple letters across the country with the hope someone really cheated on his wife and accept to pay the $2,000 worth of bitcoin, now asking $8,000
Now The FBI and other authorities are looking after this scammer

Not even the Nigerian guys who are always scamming people with ramsonwares or just any other kind of shit are going to click on that.

No way.. this is absolutely ridiculous.

[swogerino]

From what i see, people shouldn't fall for this expect blackmailer send the proof along with threat. Even if the blackmailer really have the evidence, there's no proof that the blackmailer will destroy the evidence or stop blackmailing attempt.
Also, i think the blackmailer is dumb since BTC is only pseudonymous, he/she should've use anonymous cryptocurrency such as Monero.

Bitcoin really is pseudonymous at first but only a few things are needed to make it fully anonymous. Anyone can create a big number of wallets to do mixing of their coins, gambling sites can be used for this, mixing services also. This is the number one reason bitcoin is still the number one used crypto in the TOR browser and dark net marketplaces. There have been no successful stories so far that a criminal using bitcoin to have been caught. Little reminder: HashOcean.

[partysumo]

Not surprising that people are using cryptocurrencies to blackmail people. It is anonymous after all, and way easier to take off the grid, in comparison to fiat money. This is one of the reasons why we need regulations for cryptocurrencies asap.

[Adeyemi]

This got me laughing hard. Let's even assume that I'm cheating on my wife. You can't just come out of nowhere and tell me that you know that I'm cheating on my wife because I'm a man. That's ridiculous. You've got to back your claims with proof. And not just just any proof but hard proof that will get me to heed to your demands.

[knightfalcon]

First there was no proof that he/she has the evidence. Got lucky i have no wife, so it doen't matter if i get the blackmail letter. lol.

[Sadlife]

I dont think someone is stupid enough to fall for this trap with no concrete evidence or any proof to provide from the blackmailer, there's no really any real reason to follow the demands of the scammer. But i guess i would not underestimate how stupid some people are who knows some may have sent $8000 worth of btc for this obvious scam letter.

[jseverson]

Lmfao. Well that's a refreshing spin on these scams. This one is actually quite elaborate though. The sender, at the very least, knew the recipient's name and address. The letter was physically delivered, so this has to be quite rattling, whether or not you're actually cheating on your wife.

Is there really people who fall for this kind of stuff ? It always amazes me how naive people can be. Just like all those emails coming from rich persons who need you to cash their money and, of course, want to give you some of it, but you have first to pay them for that... 

I'm sure any cheater would shake in his boots if he received this letter. Remember, the sender knows your name and your address. Since he is actually cheating, he won't see that it's an obvious scam, unlike those who have been faithful. It's scary either way because a criminal knows where you live. I hope they are able to track the sender.

Also, I have no idea why criminals still use Bitcoin when there are fully anonymous options available. Bitcoin needs to shake off these scammers.