Bitcoin Blackmail E-mails

[bitcoinermatt]

I have recently recieved this e-mail:

Let’s get straight to the point. I am aware XXXXXXX is your password. More to the point, I am aware about your secret and I have proof of it. You don’t know me and no one paid me to investigate you.

It is just your misfortune that I came across your bad deeds. Let me tell you, I setup a malware on the adult vids (pornography) and you visited this site to have fun (you know what I mean). While you were watching video clips, your web browser started operating as a Rdp (Remote desktop) with a keylogger which gave me access to your display screen and also webcam. Right after that, my software gathered your entire contacts from your messenger, social networks, and mailbox.

Next, I gave in much more hours than I should have exploring into your life and made a two view video. 1st part shows the recording you were watching and next part shows the capture of your cam (its you doing inappropriate things).

Honestly, I want to forget all information about you and allow you to get on with your regular life. And my goal is to present you two options that may accomplish this. These two choices are with the idea to ignore this letter, or perhaps pay me $2900. Let us investigate above 2 options in details.

Option 1 is to ignore this message. You should know what is going to happen if you select this path. I will definately send out your video to all of your contacts including members of your family, coworkers, and so on. It won’t help you avoid the humiliation your household will ought to feel when friends and family find out your dirty details from me.

Second Option is to make the payment of $2900. We’ll call it my “confidentiality tip”. Now let me tell you what happens if you choose this path. Your secret remains your secret. I will destroy the recording immediately. You keep your life that none of this ever happened.

At this point you must be thinking, “I should go to the cops”. Let me tell you, I’ve taken steps to ensure this email message can’t be tracked time for me plus it will not prevent the evidence from destroying your daily life. I am not planning to steal all your savings. I am just looking to get paid for time I put into investigating you. Let’s assume you’ve decided to create all of this disappear completely and pay me my confidentiality fee. You’ll make the payment by Bitcoins (if you do not know how, type “how to buy bitcoins” in google)

Required Amount: $2900
Bitcoin Address to Send to: 169rDGiiDxTKknBYgLPDq4sCQJjKgejkni
(It is case sensitive, so copy and paste it)

Tell no one what you should be utilising the Bitcoins for or they possibly will not sell it to you. The process to have bitcoin usually takes a short time so do not put it off.

I’ve a specific pixel in this email message, and at this moment I know that you have read through this email. You now have 24 hours in order to make the payment. If I don’t get the Bitcoin, I will send out your video to your entire contacts including members of your family, co-workers, etc. You better come up with an excuse for friends and family before they find out. Nevertheless, if I do get paid, I will erase the video immediately. It is a non-negotiable offer, so kindly don’t ruin my personal time and yours. The clock is ticking.

The "i am aware one of you password is" line was right, my password was there. I freaked out and searched on the web about it. I found out that they got my password from databse lek stuff. I calmed down. you can see if you are a possible victim of these leaks on this website: https://haveibeenpwned.com/

[pooya87]

you can see if you are a possible victim of these leaks on this website:  haveibeenpwned.com

you should never do this. sits like this one are gathering a lot of information and may not even have any database to begin with and build a database as you visit their site or enter some information there to search. that is like giving up your privacy and maybe even security willingly.

[libert19]

you can see if you are a possible victim of these leaks on this website:  haveibeenpwned.com

you should never do this. sits like this one are gathering a lot of information and may not even have any database to begin with and build a database as you visit their site or enter some information there to search. that is like giving up your privacy and maybe even security willingly.

Well, it requires email only and was accurate about my (previous) bitcointalk account getting hacked in 2015 plus some other services where I was registered.

You can also find the info about Troy Hunt who runs the site.

I mean it sounds legit.

[Yaunfitda]

I also check the btc address,

https://www.bitcoinabuse.com/reports/169rDGiiDxTKknBYgLPDq4sCQJjKgejkni

And it seems that is has been flagged as early as 2018. Unfortunately, it seems that many has fallen for the trick already as it has 1.124592 BTC.

[jossiel]

Change your password immediately.

It's the same script that these scammers send from those leaked email databases that they have. Don't send any amount to that lazy person.

[pooya87]

you can see if you are a possible victim of these leaks on this website:  haveibeenpwned.com

you should never do this. sits like this one are gathering a lot of information and may not even have any database to begin with and build a database as you visit their site or enter some information there to search. that is like giving up your privacy and maybe even security willingly.

Well, it requires email only and was accurate about my (previous) bitcointalk account getting hacked in 2015 plus some other services where I was registered.

You can also find the info about Troy Hunt who runs the site.

I mean it sounds legit.

it can still harvest email addresses. and it also has a password section where you can enter your password to check if the password was leaked. interestingly enough i did search both my burnt email address and its password and it only shows the email as "pawned" while the password is not. hence my avatar...

[NavI_027]

It's the same script that these scammers send from those leaked email databases that they have. Don't send any amount to that lazy person.

Okay, I think changing his password will work but how about his dirty little secrets? It will spill if he refuse. Don't get me wrong, I agree that he should not give money because the hacker will abuse him further but that sounds life threatening.

So my question is, Is this really a serious issue or just simple hacking incident done by a prankster and everything he said are all lies ?

[Maus0728]

These blackmail email has been existing long time ago and there are numerous articles that was published regarding this kind fraudulent activities and it seems they are still propagating on the internet up until now.
[1] https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/blog/2020/04/scam-emails-demand-bitcoin-threaten-blackmail
Just make it a habit to change your password regularly to avoid unnecessary troubles when using the internet.

So my question is, Is this really a serious issue or just simple hacking incident done by a prankster and everything he said are all lies ?

Regardless whether these claim are true or false. One must consider taking precautionary measures to avoid unnecessary hacking incident.

Based on the timing of this spike, you may get one of these messages because your email was exposed in a recent data breach. The scammers may say they have access to your computer or webcam, or installed clever software to defeat you. That’s all talk. But they may really know one of your old – or recent – passwords, and they include it in the message to prove it. When you see that, you know it’s time to update your password on that account, and consider updating other passwords, too.

[davis196]

It's the same script that these scammers send from those leaked email databases that they have. Don't send any amount to that lazy person.

Okay, I think changing his password will work but how about his dirty little secrets? It will spill if he refuse. Don't get me wrong, I agree that he should not give money because the hacker will abuse him further but that sounds life threatening.

So my question is, Is this really a serious issue or just simple hacking incident done by a prankster and everything he said are all lies ?

There are no "dirty little secrets".This is just a made up lie,so the victim could panic and decide to pay the ransom.The hacker has only the victim's password and nothing else.
Most of those "hackers" aren't that tech savvy or smart.They are just copying the same old hacking methods.
Nobody should ever pay a ransom to a hacker.It doesn't matter what personal info is revealed.
I don't know but haveibeenpwned.com seems to be a legit website that has been around since 2013 and has over 2 million verified email addresses.

[The Cryptovator]

Crazy scam attempt. Just don't send any funds to the scammer. Somehow he hacked your email address and know the password. It doesn't mean he has all of the details about it or you did anything wrong. Even you pay him then he could blackmail again and again if he has your videos or something similar. So better to ignore and let him do whatever he wants to do. It seems this is a scam template.

[Assface16678]

One of the best solutions is to change your password so they can no longer access it and I think you give that information to them unexpectedly because you are not aware.

Don't entertain this kind of scammers and blackmail because at the end of the day the objective is just to get a lot of money to their victims and if you give them at the first try sooner or later they will ask you to give another one until they reach the amount they want one of the best things is to ignore or if you have an access change password immediately.

It's the same script that these scammers send from those leaked email databases that they have. Don't send any amount to that lazy person.

Okay, I think changing his password will work but how about his dirty little secrets? It will spill if he refuse. Don't get me wrong, I agree that he should not give money because the hacker will abuse him further but that sounds life threatening.

So my question is, Is this really a serious issue or just simple hacking incident done by a prankster and everything he said are all lies ?

If the OP does not have important information with that account just ignore this threat because it's useless to get an information to a person.

[NavI_027]

These blackmail email has been existing long time ago and there are numerous articles that was published regarding this kind fraudulent activities and it seems they are still propagating on the internet up until now.

I'm glad it is all about mind games and not a form of serious blackmailing. Because if I'm the one who will be put in that situation, I can say that I would give in. I'm the kind of person which is fearless when it comes to investing but panic-stricken when it comes to any trouble . I guess I need to study more, I realized that I'm not smart enough to become 100% resilient against all scams.

[Lucius]

This has already become quite common, someone claims to have a compromising video about you and asks you to pay a ransom in exchange for that video. Of course, in most cases there is no video, but the fraudster reckons that some use the Internet for pornography, and some really pay in panic and fear without even looking for proof that the video exists.

Unfortunately, crypto has made things even easier for these scammers, but one should be even more careful with things like this - blackmail is a criminal offense, and everyone should report it to the authorities instead of paying ransoms.

[rodskee]

Change your password immediately.

It's the same script that these scammers send from those leaked email databases that they have. Don't send any amount to that lazy person.

Best thing to do to avoid anything, it's a perfect way to see if you are really being compromised.
Never to let this scammers win over you.
Think first and analyze the situation, those scammers are trying to get inside you and let your
fear be your own enemy.
Part of those many things that you have to consider while you are using the internet, expect that
hackers are always around you waiting for any opportunities.

[Rikafip]

Beside seeing your own password, when you think about it it's pretty obvious that guy is just bullshiting you and he doesn't have any "incriminating" stuff. If he really had access to the your computer he would see that you know thing or two about the crypto so he wouldn't explain to you that BTC part, or he would provide more evidence. This is just generic email (except your password) sent to probably thousands of people, and unfortunately some will fall for the this.

[Oasisman]

The "i am aware one of you password is" line was right, my password was there. I freaked out and searched on the web about it.

Nothing to be freaked out If they got your password. The message is obviously a generic statement from the scammers.
The most possible reason why they got your password is that you have registered to an untrusted website using your common username and password, providing them with your email address.
That's why it's really important to have more than 2 or 3 passwords to avoid being hacked and being tricked with this scamming techniques, specially with those phishing websites.

[mindrust]

I saw one of these emails in an email address I stopped using long time ago.

They ain't got shit on you. They are randomly sending these to make you panic. Ignore and send to spam folder.

Cryptolocker kinda trojans are way more effective than those emails.

Websites get hacked from time to time, the pass they have is one of those passes. Unless you are using the same pass for everything, you have nothing to fear. If they were able to hack everything you got, they would have done it already.

[joniboini]

I mean it sounds legit.

Legit or not doesn't mean you should trust them with everything. Even if all infos on that site was true, and even if the owner does run it for good purpose, there's nothing wrong with being careful with your own identity-related stuff on the internet. Which is why using throwaway e-mail account for something not important is a must.

[thesmallgod]

I have been a victim of this type of mail in the past and the most horrible thing there was that the password contained in the mail was truly the right password which when I checked online I discovered it was leaked through cashrate. Unfortunately for the hacker, I have no single penny so I could not pay the ransom. I moved on and change my password. I was hoping he will leak all the video as he has narrated in the mail but up till date nothing like that ever leaked  . The Op should change his password and forget about this

[nelson4lov]

Emails like this are becoming common with each passing day. There have been a couple of data breaches over the past couple of years and scammers have been trying to get benefit off those leaked data. I wrote a thread right here on the forum some months back on email data breaches: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5201569.msg53078705#msg53078705

I would suggest you don't do anything other than changing your password to a more stronger one and block all emails you receive regarding this issue.

Legit or not doesn't mean you should trust them with everything. Even if all infos on that site was true, and even if the owner does run it for good purpose, there's nothing wrong with being careful with your own identity-related stuff on the internet. Which is why using throwaway e-mail account for something not important is a must.

If anyone doesn't feel safe with IhaveBeenPwned, Firefox has an alternative here: https://monitor.firefox.com/