# Got a ransom note from a bitcoiner? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 19, 2018, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-a-ransom-note-from-a-bitcoiner/818228 "2018-07-19T21:19:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2018, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-a-ransom-note-from-a-bitcoiner/818228/21 "2018-07-20T01:13:31Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > The claim to have recorded your porn site visits and/or an image of you while doing it is just another bogus scare tactic. The reason it’s a good bogus scare tactic is because it’s happened in the past: people have hijacked cameras, people have installed key loggers. All of that stuff it something that might have happened in some alternative universe. Personally, I also read computer news for technical content, and I’m not aware of any new, current, risks that would lead me to think keyloggers or camera-capture software are a suddenly worse problem affecting more people. Your computer and smartphone are a window to the outside world. It’s worth remembering that sometimes people look in through windows, and to the extent that you can, you should keep the curtains closed. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2018, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-a-ransom-note-from-a-bitcoiner/818228/22 "2018-07-20T01:29:30Z")
> [@drewder](#): > > With so many people here getting the same email, I got it too, I wonder if the straight dope message board was hacked. It’s possible, as Vbulletin, along with Adobe and LinkedIn were the three sites where my email address that was used to send me the ransom note was compromised. ---
**Author:** ![Weisshund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ba8739/32.png) [@Weisshund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weisshund)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2018, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-a-ransom-note-from-a-bitcoiner/818228/23 "2018-07-20T01:54:39Z")
LOL I got that email, or very close to it I laughed and deleted it 1. i have not visited any porn sites 2. I dont have a webcam or a laptop 3. the password was not anything i have ever used 4. i dont have facebook etc to get contact from I figure the guy must be related to the rich nigerian princess that has found me immensely attractive and if i can help her get her money into a US bank would like to come here and marry me. ---
**Author:** ![JWT\_Kottekoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3ec8ea/32.png) [@JWT\_Kottekoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JWT_Kottekoe)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2018, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-a-ransom-note-from-a-bitcoiner/818228/24 "2018-07-20T03:11:30Z")
Yes, I got a version almost identical to one of those linked above. It included my least secure password, the one I’ve used for years on sites for which I don’t care if I get hacked. It is in fact the password I used on LinkedIn, which I changed after the LinkedIn security breach. ---
**Author:** ![interestingtwist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c5a1d2/32.png) [@interestingtwist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interestingtwist)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2018, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-a-ransom-note-from-a-bitcoiner/818228/25 "2018-07-20T06:02:59Z")
I work in IT and recently helped one of my customers who had received exactly the same email. We performed an Experian dark web scan (which is free) and found that the email address and password listed in the scam email were shown under the dark web scan list of compromised accounts. Funny enough, the scammer seems to have obtained the email address and password for the scam email from the Equifax data breach of 2017, then used it to try and scam $2,900 in bitcoin. The price is going up, 2 years ago the emails wanted only $300 and now they want nearly 3x that amount. My guess is that, for every 10,000 people they email, they get 100 of them to pay. That’s a crazy amount of money to make each month doing nothing but spamming from a hacked list. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2018, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-a-ransom-note-from-a-bitcoiner/818228/26 "2018-07-20T06:22:27Z")
I’ve gotten a similar email twice, but it doesn’t say anything about a password. It just has an old street address I lived at a long time ago. The first one was obviously bogus, (because I don’t watch porn), but when the second one came about a week letter–with pretty much the same language but pretending to be completely different person–I just laughed. ---
**Author:** ![KellyCriterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b3f665/32.png) [@KellyCriterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KellyCriterion)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2018, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-a-ransom-note-from-a-bitcoiner/818228/27 "2018-07-20T06:42:07Z")
Anyone attempting actual extortion via this method would at a minimum, along with the ransom note, include a screen cap of the spit screen video, and a handful of the contacts the vid will be sent to. The scammer of the above sample email goes on and on about all the alleged effort they’ve gone to. It would take one extra minute to include the additional proof demonstrating it’s not a scam. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2018, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-a-ransom-note-from-a-bitcoiner/818228/28 "2018-07-20T12:39:16Z")
If someone really had a video capture then posting it with the email would result in a much higher “compliance” rate. _Much_ higher. Then again, if you can convince people to open an attachment in an email you’re already ahead of the game. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2018, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-a-ransom-note-from-a-bitcoiner/818228/29 "2018-07-20T14:32:02Z")
> [@some phisher](#): > > I’m going to cut to the chase. I am aware XXXXXXX is your pass word. Most importantly, I’m aware about your secret and I’ve evidence of this. You don’t know me and no one paid me to investigate you. > > It’s just your misfortune that I came across your bad deeds. In fact, I actually installed a malware on the adult videos (sexually graphic) and you visited this website to have fun (you know what I mean). When you were busy watching video clips, your internet browser started operating as a Rdp (Remote control desktop) having a keylogger which gave me access to your screen and also web camera. Pics or it didn’t happen. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2018, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-a-ransom-note-from-a-bitcoiner/818228/30 "2018-07-20T15:40:27Z")
I may have gotten this email, but I do not read spam, so I wouldn’t know. Every few days I scan through my spam folder, but I haven’t found a “real” email mistaken for spam in eons. I then delete all. ---
**Author:** ![Delicious](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@Delicious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Delicious)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2018, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-a-ransom-note-from-a-bitcoiner/818228/31 "2018-07-20T16:11:38Z")
I’ve been sending videos of my porn sexcapades to my entire contact list for years now, outsourcing it might free up some time but $2000 is too rich for me. ---
**Author:** ![Dag\_Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@Dag\_Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dag_Otto)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2018, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-a-ransom-note-from-a-bitcoiner/818228/32 "2018-07-20T19:28:41Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > Likewise, if I got some random email saying “Watch your brother-in-law jerk off to ‘Horny Stepdaughter seduces her Dad’!!!” I’d delete it with zero interest in viewing that. Or care. Given that choice, I would pick watching the horny stepdaughter. Probably has better lighting than my brother-in-law anyway. ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2018, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-a-ransom-note-from-a-bitcoiner/818228/33 "2018-07-20T21:17:13Z")
Let’s discuss logistics for a minute. Looking at my laptop, and the camera it has, even if I were watching videos on it, the only thing the camera would show would be my face from the neck up making the dead behind the eyes expression everyone has while staring at a computer screen. I don’t think the camera would capture any, um, local action, unless I stood up or somehow wanted to be seen. So the threat of showing a video of me split screened with porn would look the same as me split screened with youtube. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2018, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-a-ransom-note-from-a-bitcoiner/818228/34 "2018-07-20T21:28:09Z")
My interpretation of the threat of a split-screen video was that it would show you alongside with the filth you were watching, and others would make the obvious connection. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2018, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-a-ransom-note-from-a-bitcoiner/818228/35 "2018-07-21T01:20:26Z")
I got several a month or so ago that said they had photos of me wanking. Really? In front of my computer (which, BTW, lacks a webcam). I laughed and deleted them. They were all the same. Never got one about porn sites (which I don’t visit anyway). ---
**Author:** ![kbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4491bb/32.png) [@kbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kbear)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2018, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-a-ransom-note-from-a-bitcoiner/818228/36 "2018-07-21T01:42:25Z")
My husband opened one this evening just before we went out for his birthday dinner. He has spent the better part of the last two hours insisting that he hasn’t been watching porn on his laptop and it has taken me until just now to convince him that it’s a scam. ������ ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2018, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-a-ransom-note-from-a-bitcoiner/818228/37 "2018-07-21T02:08:40Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > Anyone get a ransom note from someone, asking for bitcoin? I just got one from a mailer at [outlook.com](http://outlook.com), claiming that if I don’t pay up, he will send a video to all the names in my contact list, showing all the porn I have been watching, and showing my face from my computer’s cam. > > Since my computer doesn’t have a cam, at least part of this is fake. And if he sends out that video, I hope he sends me a copy so I can see what I have been supposedly watching. > > He does supply one piece of info that would be hard to find out or guess. That makes me a bit unnerved. However this fucker ain’t gettin’ no bitcoin from me. > > Anyone else deal with this? Yep, got that one this week after a friend told me about it. Yes, total scam. The piece of info, I assume, is your password? There was a butchered version of it in my email. It wasn’t one I used in about ten years, and it wasn’t quite right, but close enough. I assume somebody got a hold of a hacked password list and eventually cracked it. Big whoop. [Is this the scam](https://krebsonsecurity.com/2018/07/sextortion-scam-uses-recipients-hacked-passwords/)? ETA: Yes, **Reality Chuck** ’s version is what I got, I think down to the letter and the amounts (I deleted mine since, so can’t verify, but all that sounds right.) ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2018, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-a-ransom-note-from-a-bitcoiner/818228/38 "2018-07-21T02:17:18Z")
My reaction upon hearing this scam from my friend (the day before I received the exact same email) was that someone has been watching _Black Mirror_. To be honest, though, it’s a pretty brilliant scam. Just get an old hacked password list, fire off a bunch of automated emails, and if a few suckers fall for it, hey, bank. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2018, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-a-ransom-note-from-a-bitcoiner/818228/39 "2018-07-21T13:02:27Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > My interpretation of the threat of a split-screen video was that it would show you alongside with the filth you were watching, and others would make the obvious connection. That someone knows how to take different videos from two different places recorded at two different times and edit them into a side-by-side thing? Oh, yeah. This is proof fer shure. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2018, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-a-ransom-note-from-a-bitcoiner/818228/40 "2018-07-21T13:58:49Z")
Now you’re being too logical. If everyone was that sensible, the IRS scam would die a quick death. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-a-ransom-note-from-a-bitcoiner/818228.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/got-a-ransom-note-from-a-bitcoiner/818228.md?page=3)