Krebs on Security:
Here’s a clever new twist on an old email scam that could serve to make the con far more believable. The message purports to have been sent from a hacker who’s compromised your computer and used your webcam to record a video of you while you were watching porn. The missive threatens to release the video to all your contacts unless you pay a Bitcoin ransom. The new twist? The email now references a real password previously tied to the recipient’s email address.
The basic elements of this sextortion scam email have been around for some time, and usually the only thing that changes with this particular message is the Bitcoin address that frightened targets can use to pay the amount demanded. But this one begins with an unusual opening salvo
I received this email scam as well but it didn’t worry me. While it was a password I’d used in the distant past, now that I use 1Password, I knew it wasn’t to anything I still use.
I like how you don’t say “I knew this wasn’t legit because I don’t watch porn on my computer…” 🙂
LOL I’d actually have no problem if others saw what porn I had on my computer. I’ve got nothing to hide. 🙂
I was sitting on a train earlier today and the two women opposite were discussing this exact scam and how worrying it was. One of them had received the extortion email asking for payment in Bitcoin and they has referenced her Yahoo mail password (an old one) as proof.
I think was able to re-assure her that it was a scam. She had changed all her passwords on receipt of the email but of course, this was a lengthy process. I mentioned Dashlane and 1Password as being of great use for password management and security and she was genuinely interested in knowing how that would help her in future.