disturbing spam mail

That is bizarre, what are you going to do OP?

Ask him to list your contacts.

every time you get a weird email, Google the first line or two of text.

R3 Nice work Jessica

Yeah, I got one too. They were trying to scam 1,500 out of me. Ignore it.

A little bit of research showed that one of my online social media accounts had been "pwned" (whatever that is) and thats likely where they got my email and password from. Theres a site where you can enter your email address to see if you've been pwned.

Thanks for the link R5

Read recently to IGNORE

Something to think about before entering your email address in the link at R5, that is one more company that will have your email address, either you have been pnwd or you haven't, does knowing change anything?

Isn't that straight from a Black Mirror episode? Unless he sent you a copy of that video, I would ignore it. I also always put tape on my webcam and front smartphone camera. Just in case....

I heard the big companies are already using our smartphones to spy on some of us anyway. They scan background noises (what music, television programs we like), conversations for keywords to find out more about our favorite cars, hobbies, vacation destinations etc.

Back when I used to torrent (heh, heh) I got pulled into a password theft scam. I went to one of the sites I used to download stuff, they asked for my login and password, I used the one I always use, and got an error message. I then tried a few others I thought it was, and got more errors. Little did I know that the old site was kaput and the new one simply kept giving me errors in order to get my user names and passwords that I might use for other sites. They ended up using it to send out spam because it actually was my email/password for a Comcast account. No biggie, it was a crap email I used for downloads, but it was disconcerting.

I got the same email a few weeks back OP.

I started to email back and tell the asshole good luck with seeing anything on any of my webcams because they're all covered with black or white electrical tape. But I figured, fuck it.

I got the same email a year or so ago. The password was from a social media site I was no longer on and not one I used anywhere else. I ignored it, and never heard anything more. The email contained a lot of BS about having installed malware on my computer and knowing all the sites I visited. Like R12, I also have tape over my webcam. The email also claimed to have the email addresses of all my contacts, and threatened to send them sleazy videos from sites I had been on. It also claimed to have sleazy videos of me, which don't exist. Beyond the password, there was no other specific information about me or the sites I was on, so I knew it was a scam. Also, keep in mind that whoever sent you this email sent it to many others, hoping that someone would fall for it and send money. My advice is to ignore it and not worry about it.

R13 Honey, masturbation is not sleazy, it is beautiful. Revel in the wank

Several people from work received a similar email including myself. We ignored it.

It’s a scam and it’s a fake. There’s no ransomware on your computer.

Here’s a link that modestly attempts to monitor bitcoin accounts used for illicit activities and seizes the wallet. Always good for a laugh.

They probably get enough people to pay that they don’t need to follow through with their threats.

I wonder how many times Dolt45 has gotten that email?

They get the passwords from some major security breach from a few years ago, I think LinkedIn was one of the sites, I first started getting them at least a year ago and I still get a couple a week. Like the poster up thread recommended, google the first couple of lines of an email when you get one, that's how I found out about the scam. Another reason I knew it was a scam was because I have a desktop PC at home that doesn't have a webcam, and that's the only PC I use to watch porn. I also read the scammers are raking in thousands with this one.

It definitely IS scary when you get the first one.

I got one, and I figured out pretty quickly it was because of the breach at LinkedIn. I had already canceled my account. But, yes, it was very unsettling the first time I got it. I got another version, with slightly different wording, a few months later.

One thing to be aware of: The text in the body of the email contains your email address and password salted throughout it, you can only see that if you select all/copy the body and then paste it into a text editor.

If you pay them twice the amount you get a free lottery ticket

R21, I do not understand. Why put the email and password in the email, but not let it be visible?

The one I got, had the email and password clearly readable. That got my attention, before I realized it was a scam.

They send thousands of that type email and I think they do that so that when someone hits reply they know they got a legit address for future use.

[quote]The one I got, had the email and password clearly readable. That got my attention, before I realized it was a scam.

Mine was filtered into my spam folder, where normally I would never have even opened it, but it had my password in the subject line, so of course I was curious and read it.

But in R21's email, the email and password were not visible until you copy and pasted into another program.

Why?

How would I know? I’m just telling you what I know from the emails I’ve received.

Do not respond. Forward to the local police.