Blackmail email - how likely to be real?

Le_Kirk

WOW, you need to either turn off Smart punctuation or stop posting using an Apple device -then we might just be able to read that wall of Gobbledygook and that is being kind to Gobbledygook!

J_B

Le_Kirk wrote: »

WOW, you need to either turn off Smart punctuation or stop posting using an Apple device -then we might just be able to read that wall of Gobbledygook and that is being kind to Gobbledygook!

Please do NOT accuse me of owning any crApple devices.


I used to have an iPhone3, but I'm fully recovered now.

AndyPix

Pennywise wrote: »

I've received an email from someone claiming to have infected my computer with a trojan horse virus and telling me to pay a sum of dollars in bitcoin to avoid them sending what they've found on my PC to all my email contacts/social media etc.

They are lying . Delete and ignore

Pennywise wrote: »

I've got Avast premium on all my PCs, and have done Avast scans, with nothing reported found. I've had it on my PCs for several years, so have always assumed I've been protected.

Dont be so confident with this - I have encountered countless machines with avast installed that were absolutely crippled with malware

Pennywise wrote: »

they're protected by passwords and encrpyted but presumably if I opened them myself, and there was a trojan horse virus, they'd be visible for someone to copy?)

The chances of that, even if you were infected, are vanishingly small - they would have to have crafted some malware to take screenshots at very regular intervals and be lucky enough to grab one while you had your sensitive document open.


Follow advice re malwarebytes above

rdr

i had one like this, again not actually possible. Sent to the email address that I used for Adobe before they were hacked, it's a scam but a few people will pay.

AndyPix

rdr wrote: »

it's a scam but a few people will pay.

Thats right - or they wouldnt bother sending the mails ..


Look at it like this :-


It costs around £65 to have 1 million emails sent for you.


Now, if a mere 1% of recipients open that email, that is 10,000 people reading the mail .


And if a tiny 1% of those initial 1% actually act on it and pay, that is 100 payers !!


Now even if the price is as "low" as £10, you can see a return of £1000 for your initial investment of £65


Now you see why you get so many spam emails every day, because the [EMAIL="b@stards"]b@stards[/EMAIL] are raking it in - even at those extremely conservative estimates !!

debitcardmayhem

rdr wrote: »

i had one like this, again not actually possible. Sent to the email address that I used for Adobe before they were hacked, it's a scam but a few people will pay.

I had different ones to the two addresses which i used for adobe too:cool:

bertiewhite

My simple answer is - if you have nothing for them to blackmail you with, let them go ahead.

AndyPix

^^ Everybody has something they wouldnt particularly want being made public - surely ??!!


Even if its just an old pic of you in your speedos on a beach in the 80's !!

Geodark

AndyPix wrote: »

Thats right - or they wouldnt bother sending the mails ..


Look at it like this :-


It costs around £65 to have 1 million emails sent for you.


Now, if a mere 1% of recipients open that email, that is 10,000 people reading the mail .


And if a tiny 1% of those initial 1% actually act on it and pay, that is 100 payers !!


Now even if the price is as "low" as £10, you can see a return of £1000 for your initial investment of £65


Now you see why you get so many spam emails every day, because the [EMAIL="b@stards"]b@stards[/EMAIL] are raking it in - even at those extremely conservative estimates !!

When you put it that way, I think I have just come up with my retirement plan.

"Dear Sirs.

I saw you, I saw you - now send me £10"

:rotfl:

Nelly1234

I have recieved a similar email to my hotmail saying they have proof that’s I’ve watched !!!!!!! They have now managed to email me from what appears to be my own email to my email. It says I’m infected with a Trojan horse, and is stating a very old password in lower case.
I’m not concerned about what they claim to have seen haha not that even though I’ve ignored the numerous emails from them demanding bit coins they have emailed me from what looks like my own address. It also won’t let me block the email address.
I’m pretty security savy so I have changed all passwords and major accounts to a different email address and aim to close down this one