What to do with Bitcoin extortion emails?

[CustomDesigned]

The claims are not plausible, but this is the threat I received.  This is in the US.  Besides reporting to the FBI email fraud mailbox (FWIW), what should be done with this kind of thing?  I looked on blockchain.info, and no one seems to have sent any bitcoin (just 3 small transactions - apparently to test his/her wallet).   Assuming the scammer initiated the 3 transactions, do they provide any clues?

Unfortunately your data was leaked in the recent hacking of the Patreon web site and I now have your information. I have your tax id, tax forms, SSN, DOB, Name, Address, Credit card details and more sensitive data. Now, I can go ahead and leak your details online which would damage your credit score like hell and would create a lot of problems for you.

If you would like to prevent me from doing this then you need to send 1 bitcoin to the following BTC address.

Bitcoin Address:

1QAQTyhCzAfvp8uLpneBNamWTNRR1hx9Cp

You can buy bitcoins using online exchanges easily. The bitcoin address is unique to you. Sending bitcoin takes take, so you better get started right now, you have 48 hours in total.

[samuel999]

Just ignore it and report it as spam. However, you should look into securing your Patreon data since there was actually a Patreon data breach at the end of september.

[White sugar]

Ignore and report as pishing attempt.

I would consider change your email too because more probably will come

[franky1]

do not reply at all to the email.
dont even try to insult or inform them you wont be scammed
dont even try  to ask for proof
dont even try  to try gaining information about them..
again do not reply at all to the email.

most scammers send out random threats to every email available publicly.
by simply replying. you can then be put onto an 'active' list..
this is not a suckers list. but a list of active emails where your likely to care.

many scammers not only buy suckers lists of dumb people who have been conned, but also lists of active people that bothers to read and reply to emails.. so that they can try things later on.


imagine it much like those annoying sales calls.. most people get a few calls where there is silence at the other side first of all.. this is due to random dialers..  that then a list of people who actually pick up.. a few call centres work together to know who is home at any given hour, to then call them.. knowing there is more chance of starting a conversation.. by only calling active numbers

so dont answer scammy emails. dont answer phones with blocked caller ID. and you wont be hassled as much

[CustomDesigned]

I would consider change your email too because more probably will come

Yeah, that is usually good advice, but I like to tinker with email filtering software.   

[DMB]

Yeah what the other guy said, once your email is out there you're f'ed. More will definitely be coming soon. I'd change your email and find a good bitcoin investment site if I were you. Good luck!

[bitbaby]

The one of the most important things you can do is NOT PAY THEM ANYTHING, because people fail to understand that if you feed these fuckers, they might come back again and ask for more and/or leak whatever information they may/not have any way. So just file a report and don't delete it just keep it for proof, for if authorities want to take a look at it.

[CustomDesigned]

This scam is particularly implausible because the scammer has no (easy) way of knowing who sent him the BTC.  

[CustomDesigned]

Yeah what the other guy said, once your email is out there you're f'ed. More will definitely be coming soon. I'd change your email if I were you. Good luck!

As a developer, my email is "out there" and is not changing.  At one point, I was getting 10000 spams/day (nearly all blocked by filtering).  *Known* spam is actually quite valuable (it can be used to automatically train software).  This is the first Bitcoin scam I've seen (and it was not recognized as spam by my software).  I was curious what the scammer is exposing by offering a Bitcoin payment address. 

[enhu]

I notice you didn't post the whole email text, did the sender named you like mentioned your name in the email?
If not then they're just sending random emails. if they did named you, you might have to think who knows you're into bitcoin, be warned.
 
in anycase, don't respond to them and put them to spam list.

[Arcteryx]

This is bad but not as bad as ransomware which you have to pay because they encrypt your files and you would need to pay them to get the password to decrypt them.

[tex99]

I wouldn't open an email unless I knew where it came from so I don't get to read any extortion attempts. If an email's coming from a reputable source its sender name lets you know who it's from unless it's a fake sender name. Most extortion emails don't have a reputable sender name, they have something like £warning" instead.

[owlcatz]

report it all to aol_phish@abuse.aol.com and delete it. it's not true, they have no info.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1258069.msg13045149;topicseen#msg13045149

[CustomDesigned]

I notice you didn't post the whole email text, did the sender named you like mentioned your name in the email?
If not then they're just sending random emails. if they did named you, you might have to think who knows you're into bitcoin, be warned.
 
in anycase, don't respond to them and put them to spam list.

The sender did not mention any identifying details, and in fact, there were a lot of random emails in the To: header (which is actually consistent with the premise).  I included the entire body of the email, less html formatting and a non-aol email address at the bottom, which was not authenticated in any way - and I didn't want to taint the reputation of the innocent.  (Surely the scammer wouldn't use his *own* real email?)

It just occured to me - maybe he generated a new bitcoin address for each recipient?  Would that be feasible?  It probably would be if he had an actual list - and would allow him to know who paid him off.

[Kakmakr]

If you might have been tricked by a phishing email: File a report with the Federal Trade Commission at www.ftc.gov/complaint. Visit the FTC's Identity Theft website. Victims of phishing could become victims of identity theft; there are steps you can take to minimize your risk.

~ Do not reply
~ Do not reply
~ Do not reply

Mark the email as Spam and report it.  For more info go here, http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0003-phishing

[Amph]

block the domain, and make so that it will be immediately put in the trash

also probably fake, as he is asking for only 1 mere bitcoin, everyone can do a fake email like that and the poor guy from the other side will fall for it

[kpitti]

As for all spams:

Do not reply
Report it as spam if you believe it helps
Move it to spam folder
Forgot until next came

[ObscureBean]

There's not much you can do really, just ignore the email. They're probably just bluffing and sent the same email to a bunch of other people in the hope that a few might get scared enough to actually send the Bitcoin. I think we gonna see a lot more of these scams in the coming years.

[Mickeyb]

My goodness what people won't try to do just to scam and get their hands on other people's money. Now they have started with this nonsense! I have never received anything like this though, the first time I see something like this!

Just ignore it, report it as phishing so that your email provider blocks the sender and that's it!

[ShrykeZ]

The claims are not plausible, but this is the threat I received.  This is in the US.  Besides reporting to the FBI email fraud mailbox (FWIW), what should be done with this kind of thing?  I looked on blockchain.info, and no one seems to have sent any bitcoin (just 3 small transactions - apparently to test his/her wallet).   Assuming the scammer initiated the 3 transactions, do they provide any clues?

Unfortunately your data was leaked in the recent hacking of the Patreon web site and I now have your information. I have your tax id, tax forms, SSN, DOB, Name, Address, Credit card details and more sensitive data. Now, I can go ahead and leak your details online which would damage your credit score like hell and would create a lot of problems for you.

If you would like to prevent me from doing this then you need to send 1 bitcoin to the following BTC address.

Bitcoin Address:

1QAQTyhCzAfvp8uLpneBNamWTNRR1hx9Cp

You can buy bitcoins using online exchanges easily. The bitcoin address is unique to you. Sending bitcoin takes take, so you better get started right now, you have 48 hours in total.

As others have said just ignore it, don't bother replying and report it as a phishing scam. Really sad that people try so hard to scam.