[ALERT] The Video Blackmail Scam

I received this email in late July .. it also included a still used, but very old password (most uses are for wholesale jewelry sites, though in the day, it was obviously used for a breached site). After my heart stopped pounding I thought, hey .. no way that's possible! And I agree, a real convincing version would have included the split video. I Googled it shortly after I got it and found $$ amounts significantly less than my $2,500. You mention $3,000, so I'm thinking they're starting to get fewer responses, better up the ante. Dastards.

I got a couple of these recently with some variation in each one. I forwarded the last one to spam@uce.gov. I haven't received another one since.

My wife got 1 2 months ago claiming she visited 1 p*rn site too many and please send $300 somewhere to get the incriminating evidence destroyed (ha!). The English instruction was laughable. Someone in China just learning slanglish making 6th grader demands. We listened, had a good laugh, dumped it.

Thank`s for the info, it is very enlightening.I have never received such an e-mail,but now I know what to look for.Ounce again thank`s.

Got one about 2 weeks ago. It had an old password I had used for Microsoft but had been changed quite a while ago. Also I laughed about the p**n comment - haven't done that in years. I wrote back to him (he already had my email, "I am a 14 year old girl. I told my dad and he is so furious at you he contacted the police." Haven't heard from him since, but I knew it was a scam anyway. He only wanted $1900 in bitcoin.

I don't bother to open anything I don't recognize at first, I just dump it. My desktop has no web cam. My laptops are taped over. And all of my computers are turned off when not in use.

I get a lot of spam, but almost all of it comes through my email account with Microsoft. The subject lines should be a dead give away, but MS must have the poorest spam filters or none at all. I get almost no spam from the 3 email accounts I have with my ISP.

I got off Facebook 6 years ago and am on no social media sites. Where do you think they get some of your info??

In spite of some "privacy" statements, I truly believe that many web sites sell your information.
And it is sold over and over until it gets into the hands of the most dishonest people.

I get a selection of these obviously fraudulent emails several times a week; Apparently my Apple account has been compromised (I don't have one) my PayPal account has been suspended (some hours before I paid for something with PayPal), my account with a bank I have never done business with has been compromised, and many more. Usual procedures - either laugh and delete immediately, or if it looks plausible, hover over the link and see where it leads. NEVER click on a link in an email - real ones will tell you to log into their site, but NEVER from an active link.
If one of these 'extortion' scams arrives, my response would simply be "Go ahead!" I'm not sure what is actually "socially reprehensible" these days - and I don't care if people know what I do anyway. It'd bore them to death.

Shame upon you Bob, you should practice what you preach — Q123456Z isn't a very secure password! ;o)

EDITOR'S NOTE: Of course that wasn't my actual password. I always use "Monkey123" for social media passwords. :-)

I too don't have a webcam on my PC screen. I would laugh and tell them to please publish it; all my friends think I'm the most boring guy around. It would improve my street creds, lol.

Yup we got several of these.
The question remains, "From under which rock did these Anus Rectus's crawl ?"
Then I am reminded that some were sent to addresses with no cameras ☺☺☺

Same threat here. No webcam. And mine said, "if you don't believe this, reply with YES. And we'll email all your contacts." So I replied with YES. (I'm single, nothing to lose, don't have a life) Email was bounced back. Also at the end of the email, it stated it cold not be replied to! DUH!

I think this scam was inspired by this episode of Black Mirror: "Shut Up and Dance" If you haven't seen Black Mirror on Netflix, you are missing the most chilling tech based horror series around.

I’ve had a cover over my laptop webcam for years ever since it operated once without my use. It flashed on and off-obviously took a photo.

All unknown phone calls go to messages first and I delete emails that are obviously bogus.

Too bad I can't receive this scam message... I would ask them to send me extra copies so I can forward them to people not on Facebook!

I got my first one of those some weeks back and, though I've never watched the stuff and always tape over webcams, the password thing threw me (pre-morning-coffee) for a moment. Since then, I've received several from different sources.
If even .5% of recipients fall for it, the senders will keep doing it. Since probably almost everyone has had an account password hacked at some point (hello, Adobe, Yahoo, Target, etc.) they have millions of opportunities to find the gullible.

I got a similar email. They wanted $5,000.
I also don't have a webcam!

Oddly enough, and perhaps it was just a coincidence, the next day I received two recorded phone calls from someone who claimed to be a police officer. He wanted me to call back immediately about "fraudulent" use of some financial account.

The phone kept ringing all day, but they would never leave a message- only if I picked up the phone would I get the message.

I phoned the real police about it and they said they were getting a lot of calls about it this scam.

I live in Canada, and the (real) police said the phone calls are coming from outside Canada, so it is difficult for them to do anything.

I didn't get an email, but I did get a pop-up saying they knew my password (which was valid for a couple of sites, but any I normally use), and would do something or other (I didn't bother to read it all) unless I paid them a huge amount.
I just rebooted the computer to get rid of it (didn't bother trying the "X"). Then I did a complete malware search with three programs. Nothing was found.
I still started having some computer problems, so I reloaded the previous image. No problems after that.

Thanks Bob. I just received one such email. It is disconcerting that the extortionist knew an old password. If a video exists of me salivating, a recipe site has been hacked. I have no camera attached to my pc. This phisher could spend some the BTC 5000 "donation" and take some basic English lesson.

Bob, I am so grateful that you are available online. Please be there always. I trust your judgement, and I appreciate the reply you sent. It calmed me down a bit. My partner yells at me constantly about giving out info, but I don't think I have made public anything important. And I DO understand that Publishers Clearing House does not notify WINNERS by telephone.

I just said "go ahead I am a dedicated exhibitionist".