Hacked & threatened with TF password!

[boomerang]

Here's an FYI for anyone interested.
I had an experience yesterday that had me wanting to get my hands around the neck of the POS making a living from hacking into peoples accounts & trying to extort money from them. I was looking through my yahoo email spam folder the other day (I've had a yahoo email since I started my business in '98 but the password isn't the one I use on here). The sender greeted me by quoting the password I use on this site ,on The Hull Truth (haven't been there for a while) & the MTOA website. It's not a particularly complicated password (7 characters) because I'm not too concerned about security when it comes to a boating website.
It's a bunch of BS because 1) I haven't been to any porn sites (not saying I've never been but not for many years!) & 2) my web cam has been blocked with a piece of tape since I got the computer (not super paranoid but it does kind of freak me that I *could* be monitored)
Here's a copy & paste of the mail I received, but I've replaced the portion where they showed me my password with asterisks. Not that it really makes a damn because I'd rather you folks knew it instead of the f-heads that hacked it.

Marineinstallations <Aaron@Smith513.edu>
To:
*******
I am well aware ******* of your pass word. Lets get straight to the point. You may not know me and you are probably thinking why you are getting this e-mail? There is no one who has compensated me to check you.

Let me tell you, I placed a software on the 18+ vids (pornography) web site and you know what, you visited this site to have fun (you know what I mean). When you were watching videos, your web browser started functioning as a Remote Desktop having a key logger which provided me access to your display screen as well as web camera. Right after that, my software program obtained your entire contacts from your Messenger, FB, as well as email . Next I created a double video. 1st part shows the video you were viewing (you have a fine taste hahah), and next part displays the recording of your webcam, & it is you.

You got a pair of options. We should look at each of these choices in particulars:

1st alternative is to disregard this e mail. As a result, I most certainly will send out your actual videotape to every bit of your contacts and also just think concerning the awkwardness you will get. And definitely should you be in a romantic relationship, just how it is going to affect?

Next alternative would be to compensate me $2000. I will call it a donation. In this scenario, I most certainly will immediately discard your video footage. You can keep on everyday life like this never took place and you will not hear back again from me.

You'll make the payment through Bitcoin (if you don't know this, search for "how to buy bitcoin" in Google).

BTC Address: 1KcPYrb4YjHgfNpKDHX3g7iGGgECK3RSWh
[CASE SENSITIVE copy & paste it]

In case you are thinking of going to the law enforcement, look, this message cannot be traced back to me. I have covered my actions. I am not trying to demand a huge amount, I would like to be compensated.

You now have one day to make the payment. I have a special pixel within this mail, and right now I know that you have read through this email message. If I don't receive the BitCoins, I will certainly send out your video recording to all of your contacts including relatives, co-workers, and so on. Having said that, if I receive the payment, I will erase the recording right away. If you want proof, reply with Yeah! and I definitely will send your video recording to your 13 contacts. This is the non-negotiable offer, and so please don't waste my time & yours by responding to this email.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

What a bunch of crap, huh? Like I said, I'd like to get my hands around his/her neck. My point is, don't have a panic attack if you receive a mail like this because ,while it sounds convincing, it's probably just another scam.

 

[Delfin]

Here's an FYI for anyone interested.
I had an experience yesterday that had me wanting to get my hands around the neck of the POS making a living from hacking into peoples accounts & trying to extort money from them. I was looking through my yahoo email spam folder the other day (I've had a yahoo email since I started my business in '98 but the password isn't the one I use on here). The sender greeted me by quoting the password I use on this site ,on The Hull Truth (haven't been there for a while) & the MTOA website. It's not a particularly complicated password (7 characters) because I'm not too concerned about security when it comes to a boating website.
It's a bunch of BS because 1) I haven't been to any porn sites (not saying I've never been but not for many years!) & 2) my web cam has been blocked with a piece of tape since I got the computer (not super paranoid but it does kind of freak me that I *could* be monitored)
Here's a copy & paste of the mail I received, but I've replaced the portion where they showed me my password with asterisks. Not that it really makes a damn because I'd rather you folks knew it instead of the f-heads that hacked it.

Marineinstallations <Aaron@Smith513.edu>
To:
*******
I am well aware ******* of your pass word. Lets get straight to the point. You may not know me and you are probably thinking why you are getting this e-mail? There is no one who has compensated me to check you.

Let me tell you, I placed a software on the 18+ vids (pornography) web site and you know what, you visited this site to have fun (you know what I mean). When you were watching videos, your web browser started functioning as a Remote Desktop having a key logger which provided me access to your display screen as well as web camera. Right after that, my software program obtained your entire contacts from your Messenger, FB, as well as email . Next I created a double video. 1st part shows the video you were viewing (you have a fine taste hahah), and next part displays the recording of your webcam, & it is you.

You got a pair of options. We should look at each of these choices in particulars:

1st alternative is to disregard this e mail. As a result, I most certainly will send out your actual videotape to every bit of your contacts and also just think concerning the awkwardness you will get. And definitely should you be in a romantic relationship, just how it is going to affect?

Next alternative would be to compensate me $2000. I will call it a donation. In this scenario, I most certainly will immediately discard your video footage. You can keep on everyday life like this never took place and you will not hear back again from me.

You'll make the payment through Bitcoin (if you don't know this, search for "how to buy bitcoin" in Google).

BTC Address: 1KcPYrb4YjHgfNpKDHX3g7iGGgECK3RSWh
[CASE SENSITIVE copy & paste it]

In case you are thinking of going to the law enforcement, look, this message cannot be traced back to me. I have covered my actions. I am not trying to demand a huge amount, I would like to be compensated.

You now have one day to make the payment. I have a special pixel within this mail, and right now I know that you have read through this email message. If I don't receive the BitCoins, I will certainly send out your video recording to all of your contacts including relatives, co-workers, and so on. Having said that, if I receive the payment, I will erase the recording right away. If you want proof, reply with Yeah! and I definitely will send your video recording to your 13 contacts. This is the non-negotiable offer, and so please don't waste my time & yours by responding to this email.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

What a bunch of crap, huh? Like I said, I'd like to get my hands around his/her neck. My point is, don't have a panic attack if you receive a mail like this because ,while it sounds convincing, it's probably just another scam.

This is a common spoof currently floating around. I've received 4 of them over the last couple of weeks. The origin is most likely a hack of sites like LinkedIn. Around 140 million email addresses and passwords were hacked in the LinkedIn instance. You can tell if it is LinkedIn as the source by looking at the properties of your email address, which would have been the from in the email demand you received. In my case, properties showed my name, my company and my title. The only place I have ever used my title is LinkedIn.

You should also check this site: https://haveibeenpwned.com/. Enter your email address and you'll see how many hack lists it appears on. You can do the same thing with your password. Incidentally, most hacks now are the result of stolen credentials, so it is important to have different passwords for different sites that you care about. Having a common, somewhat cryptic password for sites you don't care about is fine. If it ever shows up in a hack list, you can just create a new one for all your non critical site credentials. Just make sure your email password is as secure as the ones you use for banking.

 

[boomerang]

Thank you,Delfin, for the information & tips. Honestly, I'm not as motivated as I should be when it comes to updating my passwords.

 

[healhustler]

Good info. Thanks for sharing, guys. Interesting that Linkedin is a source for this....probably why I am always suspect of outfits that collect info. For the rest of us, it’s probably just a matter of time. Sorry for your pain.

 

[North Baltic sea]

Hi,


here in Finland, the press warned about the same content messages sent in Finnish, seems to be a truly international tightening business.


In reality, they have no picture material for anyone, the help here is to keep the head cold and forget the tightening Company.


NBs

 

[Wxx3]

Thanks for sharing this information. Yes, I probably would have had a heart attack.

 

[Cigatoo]

I git the same thing. Just delete / send to spam. You can google this and find that it is wide spread.

 

[MurrayM]

The most unsettling part of this whole thing is to contemplate what percentage of guys actually whack off to porn on their computers to make this a worthwhile scam.

(Also have a piece of tape over our computers camera, to thwart modern day Peeping Tom's.)

 

[RT Firefly]

Greetings,
Mr. MM. I'm not questioning your post regarding percentages but that's sort of irrelevant. How many careers have been ruined simply by an accusation, founded or groundless?
Extortion need not have any basis in truth. Simply the threat of pointing a finger is enough, in some cases, to cause a victim to pay up. Salem witch trials anyone?


I have a relative who received a phone call from "Revenue Canada" (IRS). The "agent" had quite a strong foreign accent and demanded banking information to settle unpaid taxes. The police were on the way with an arrest warrant, apparently. My relative started asking him questions in French. "Agent" was unable to respond. Hmmm...Canadian Government employee and can't speak French? Call ended somewhat abruptly...

 

[dhays]

I’ve gotten the same scam email about 4 times over the past couple weeks.

Keep in mind that once someone has purchased a name and email address, they it is really cheap to send a scan email to all of them. Most of the recipients will know it is a scam because they haven’t visited a porn site. The same is true for all of those folks getting a Medicare scam that are under 65 year old. The same batch of names and emails will be subject to a bunch of scams using a shotgun approach.

The emails are in some ways kind of humorous. I can’t recall the last time I had heard the term “onanism”.

As for passwords, I try to use different passwords and try to makes them good ones. Over the last year I have been using a system similar to that described by a TF member last year that makes for a strong PW yet is pretty easy to recall if needed.

 

[MurrayM]

My wife takes phone scammers on wild, exhausting, unfruitful, time consuming rides as a form of entertainment.

My mother-in-law takes another route, questioning their life path and asking if they are proud of what they do. One fellow phoned her back a couple months later to thank her, to let her know he had gotten a real job, and that he had talked to several other people at his call centre.

 

[Art]

My junk mail folder is often added to; i.e. filled with scams and other BS that I often do not even open to read. And, I empty it often too!!

Knowing who I am, what I do and always keeping black tape on my putter's visual camera holes [unless it it is removed for face chats in biz or family] keeps me completely calm that no crap-ass jerk can actually impinge upon my life in any meaningful way.

Illegitimi non carborundum

 

[Boat]

People commit suicide over stuff like this. It's murder, but it there is no enforcement, no protection.

Steal $65 with a gun, they make you a prisoner. Steal $5M with a pen, they make you a senator.

As said above, protect yourself.


You can have my password and spam me. It's a spam account and I likely won't read it anyway.

 

[dhays]

People commit suicide over stuff like this. It's murder, but it there is no enforcement, no protection.

I agree that these scams, and all similar scams are truly horrible. However, the lack of enforcement is more related to the difficulty of enforcement rather than lack of will. Very hard to enforce US laws against an anonymous scammer in India, China, or Russia for example.

 

[Boat]

Really think nobody who could enforce it? Maybe just bureaucrats can't enforce it. Questioning will will always be an issue.


Read somewhere that almost all "Nigerian Prince" scams are really from inside the US. Suspect most others are also.

 

[dannc]

...
(Also have a piece of tape over our computers camera, to thwart modern day Peeping Tom's.)

Many of the Smart TVs have cameras as well so don't forget to tape them up.

Many of the people at work have taped their PC camera, it is the first thing I do when I get a new system, however, we have software that does use the camera. I still leave the tape in place.

I noticed a new gadget they other day for providing PC camera security. It is a piece of plastic with a sliding door. The device has double sided tape on the back side and it is designed to fit over the camera. The sliding door lets one use the camera when needed by opening the door but closing it when the camera is not in use.

I just use the tape.

Later,
Dan

 

[FF]

RATS ,


There I thought I might finally have a photo for a really unique X-mass card!

 

[Delfin]

As for passwords, I try to use different passwords and try to makes them good ones. Over the last year I have been using a system similar to that described by a TF member last year that makes for a strong PW yet is pretty easy to recall if needed.

I believe that would be the system I described awhile ago that works well for me. If anybody wants me to reiterate it, happy to do so.

One final word on scams like this. If someone truly has gained access to your computer, they aren't going to ask for some piddling amount of a few hundred$, especially if they think it is a business system. They'll simply encrypt your drive and ask for a few thousand$, up to 100s of thousands$ if they know they've accessed a large, mission critical, system. So, the size of the demand is also a tip off as to the likelihood it is real.

 

[BruceK]

...The emails are in some ways kind of humorous. I can’t recall the last time I had heard the term “onanism”....

I have wondered why "Onan" was used as a generator brand name.

Imagine the conversation between boat owner and non boating visitor "I`m just going below to run the Onan". "Your going to do WHAT??? Will you long?"

 

[Andy G]

Umm, I might be a little naive in these things, what exactly is Onanism?

 

[RT Firefly]

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/onanism

 

[Andy G]

Very delicately put MR RT.

Imagine the annual general meeting of Cummings(the owners of Onan Generators) fielding a question from the shareholders, "why did the marketing department name our premier generator brand after a biblical masturbator"?

 

[BruceK]

Cummins can plead not guilty,I think they bought the Onan business already "up and running" (so to speak). Which begs the question, how/why it was originally named. Whatever the name,which I think incorporates the word Cummins these days, they are for good reason well regarded generators.

 

[RT Firefly]

Greetings,
Mr. BK. Given the meaning of onanism it is potentially MOST appropriate to be associated with Cummins.... Just sayin'

 

[Boat]

It could be a good password. And like all passwords you should keep it to yourself unless you have a special someone to share it with.

 

[O C Diver]

Imagine a world where every email that was sent cost $1 if the recipient didn't accept it. Send the email to the spam or delete folder, and the sender doesn't get his dollar refunded. Like to see it for phone calls also.

Ted

 

[CaptTom]

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/onanism

I'm always game to learn a new word. Not sure how useful that one will be, but the Quotations section in that Wiki article was pretty entertaining:

1839, Hypochondriasis, hysteria, chorea, epilepsy, apoplexy, and palsy, constitute part of the list of dire maladies induced or immediately excited, by onanism and immoderate or ill-timed coition. The memory and intellectual faculties, in general, are enfeebled, and there are instances of complete idiocy, brought on by early and continued onanism, and of insanity from similar excesses later in life. -- The Eclectic Journal of Medicine. Vol 3, No 4. Nov 1894. Haswell, Barrington, and Haswell: Philadelphia. p145

That explains a lot...

[Italics mine.]

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

I got a call from Kookafornia a month or so ago stating they were the IRS and I was being sued. Yesterday I got a call from Texas stating they were the the Social Security Administration. I told him that I had recorded this message and I was sending it to the FBI. He yelled F#$k You!! hung up.

 

[BruceK]

Scammers here pretending to be the Tax Office threaten immediate arrest unless you immediately pay them the tax they say you owe, in Itunes Cards! I may not have a kind word for the ATO(aka The Fiscal Fiend) but they don`t phone threatening arrest,well not directly,anyway.They don`t accept Itunes cards for payment either,though they might take your Grandmother as security.
Remember scammers are not nice people,don`t mess around antagonizing them for fun,keep it short. There are some nasty threatening scams around.
In another, they call claiming to be from your Bank(there is about a 1 in 8 chance here you actually use the Bank they name, but whatever you do don`t say"Oh no I bank with XYZ",cause that`s where the next call will "come" from),to see if you authorized a particular online payment. Someone I know, detecting BS, said "Yes I did". End of call.

 

[Mako]

It is very serious. I just sent $30 million to Nigeria [emoji3]