Here’s a scam email going around claiming it had hacked my email account.
It claims that it sent the email to me from my own account, although it appears to come from me, it doesn’t, this fake way to send emails appearing to come from other email addresses is called SPOOFING and is a common spam tactic.
[UPDATE]
It claims to know my email password but the password they mention is not from my email, It is from the website stackskills.com which has now been updated, it is likely that website had a data breach, the scammers probably did not have the skill to hack Stack Skills, but just bought a list of data from the dark web so they could try this blackmail scam and try to scare people by revealing a password, this scam is a form of “Social Engineering”. Also, another person has reported the password they had was from their Linked-In account.
It also claims to have recorded me on webcam visiting an adult website, which again is a clever and common scam technique as many people do visit these sites and don’t protect their webcam…..
Unfortunately it seems this scam has already netted some victims, although all the claims in the scam email are false, some people apparently believed it as it appears their Bitcoin (BTC) account has received several of the ransom fees they nominated.
Here is the scam email;
FWD
Hello!
I’m a member of an international hacker group.
As you could probably have guessed, your account name@myemail.com was hacked, because I sent message you from it.
Now I have access to you accounts!
For example, your password for name@myemail.com is c0yhu48e3q96
Within a period from July 17, 2018 to October 3, 2018, you were infected by the virus we’ve created, through an adult website you’ve visited.
So far, we have access to your messages, social media accounts, and messengers.
Moreover, we’ve gotten full damps of these data.
We are aware of your little and big secrets…yeah, you do have them. We saw and recorded your doings on porn websites. Your tastes are so weird, you know..
But the key thing is that sometimes we recorded you with your webcam, syncing the recordings with what you watched!
I think you are not interested show this video to your friends, relatives, and your intimate one…
Transfer $800 to our Bitcoin wallet: 14bXUoPwruptLamUfKTuMW39Qy1q4ohX9w
If you don’t know about Bitcoin please input in Google «buy BTC». It’s really easy.
I guarantee that after that, we’ll erase all your «data» 🙂
A timer will start once you read this message. You have 48 hours to pay the above-mentioned amount.
Your data will be erased once the money are transferred.
If they are not, all your messages and videos recorded will be automatically sent to all your contacts found on your devices at the moment of infection.
You should always think about your security.
We hope this case will teach you to keep secrets.
Take care of yourself.
************************************
UPDATE
Another Similar Scam email, this time they had the correct password from an old Edurila.com account. I am 90%+ certain they are buying these passwords from obsolete websites that have not been updated and so are easily hackable and using the information in “Social Engineering” scare tactics.
The recent email reads
Hi, dear user of myaccount.com
We have installed one RAT software into you device.
For this moment your email account is hacked (see on «from address», I messaged you from your account).
Your password for me@myaccount.com: blahblah
I have downloaded all confidential information from your system and I got some more evidence.
The most interesting moment that I have discovered are videos records where you masturbating.
I posted my virus on porn site, and then you installed it on your operation system.
When you clicked the button Play on porn video, at that moment my trojan was downloaded to your device.
After installation, your front camera shoots video every time you masturbate, in addition, the software is synchronized with the video you choose.
For the moment, the software has collected all your contact information from social networks and email addresses.
If you need to erase all of your collected data, send me $800 in BTC (crypto currency).
This is my Bitcoin wallet:
You have 48 hours after reading this letter.
After your transaction I will erase all your data.
Otherwise, I will send video with your pranks to all your colleagues and friends!!!
And henceforth be more careful!
Please visit only secure sites!
Bye!
source