# Yay! My scammers are back! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 13, 2015, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yay-my-scammers-are-back/734544 "2015-10-13T13:42:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2015, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yay-my-scammers-are-back/734544/1 "2015-10-13T13:42:55Z")
So I received this in my spam folder this morning: > [@](#): > > To introduce ourselves first: > > [links removed] > > Or just google ?DD4BC? and you will find more info. > > So, it?s your turn! > > All your servers and websites will be going under attack unless you pay 10 Bitcoin. > > Pay to 1EqwTAMgw8RtdGpWSFnsW5AdeM7RGVaKrZ > > Please note that it will not be easy to mitigate our attack, because our current UDP flood power is 400-500 Gbps. > > We are aware that you probably don?t have 40 BTC at the moment, so we are giving you 24 hours to get BTC and pay us. > > Find the best exchanger for you on [links removed] You can pay directly through exchanger to our BTC address, you don?t even need to have BTC wallet. > > Current price of 1 BTC is about 230 USD, so we are cheap, at the moment. But if you ignore us, price will increase. > > IMPORTANT: You don?t even have to reply. Just pay 10 BTC to the above BTC address we will know it?s you and you will never hear from us again. > > But if you ignore us, and don?t pay within 24 hours, long term attack will start, price to stop will go to 100 BTC and will keep increasing for every hour of attack. > > If you think about reporting us to authorities, feel free to try. But it will not help. We are not amateurs. The best thing that can happen, they will go publicly about it. We will, again, get some free publicity. But for you, price will go up. > > IMPORTANT: It?s a one-time payment. Pay and you will not hear from us ever again! > > In many cases, our ?customers? fear that if they pay us once, we will be back and ask for more. That?s not how we work. We never attack the same target twice. > > We do bad things, but we keep our word. > Thank you? I do have to commend them for being so polite about extortion. I had an ([But I never even HAD an Ashley Madison account! - Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=771450)) from them the other day, also. I think we’re beginning to be friends. ---
**Author:** ![WildBlueYonder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ce7236/32.png) [@WildBlueYonder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildBlueYonder)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2015, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yay-my-scammers-are-back/734544/2 "2015-10-13T14:05:49Z")
I started getting spammed again recently. Usually there are long spans of no spam…come to think of it…it started around the time I signed up in here…J/K! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2015, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yay-my-scammers-are-back/734544/3 "2015-10-13T14:10:59Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > I do have to commend them for being so polite. And they used fluent English with good grammar, too. That shows how much work they put into it. You should pay them for their efforts. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2015, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yay-my-scammers-are-back/734544/4 "2015-10-13T14:11:59Z")
Send them this. “All your servers and websites will be going under attack unless you pay 10 Bitcoin.” Only 10 bitcoins? Your mother charges 25 for an hour. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2015, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yay-my-scammers-are-back/734544/5 "2015-10-13T17:24:45Z")
[QUOTE=Pack of idiots] If you think about reporting us to authorities, feel free to try. But it will not help. We are not amateurs. [/QUOTE] Indeed. They’re _rank_ amateurs. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2015, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yay-my-scammers-are-back/734544/6 "2015-10-13T17:32:23Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > And they used fluent English with good grammar, too. That shows how much work they put into it. You should pay them for their efforts. 🙂 You left out their exemplary punctuation. ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2015, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yay-my-scammers-are-back/734544/7 "2015-10-13T17:51:44Z")
> [@Morgenstern](#): > > Send them this. > “All your servers and websites will be going under attack unless you pay 10 Bitcoin.” > Only 10 bitcoins? Your mother charges 25 for an hour. All your Bitcoin are belong to us? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2015, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yay-my-scammers-are-back/734544/8 "2015-10-13T18:53:14Z")
I saw an article by someone whose computer was being held hostage by these scammers. The writer was trying to pay the ransom but was having trouble doing so. Surprisingly (or perhaps not so surprisingly) the people running the extortion had really good customer support, and they helped the writer with obtaining and transmitting the bitcoins. ---
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2015, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yay-my-scammers-are-back/734544/9 "2015-10-13T18:54:20Z")
> [@Morgenstern](#): > > Send them this. > “All your servers and websites will be going under attack unless you pay 10 Bitcoin.” > Only 10 bitcoins? Your mother charges 25 for an hour. “Only” 10 bitcoins? A bitcoin is currently worth about $250. ---
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2015, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yay-my-scammers-are-back/734544/10 "2015-10-13T18:55:23Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I saw an article by someone whose computer was being held hostage by these scammers. The writer was trying to pay the ransom but was having trouble doing so. Surprisingly (or perhaps not so surprisingly) the people running the extortion had really good customer support, and they helped the writer with obtaining and transmitting the bitcoins. If you do a news search, there has been at least one police department that got hit by that, and decided to pay. ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2015, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yay-my-scammers-are-back/734544/11 "2015-10-14T03:08:51Z")
I’ve taken out the links in your OP, just in case someone clicks on them and they turn out to be malicious or something like that. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2015, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yay-my-scammers-are-back/734544/12 "2015-10-14T04:51:51Z")
So are these guys utterly traceable or what? ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2015, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yay-my-scammers-are-back/734544/13 "2015-10-14T07:08:57Z")
> [@Flyer](#): > > If you do a news search, there has been at least one police department that got hit by that, and decided to pay. Isn’t that a different scam? The OP’s email seems to be threatening a DDOS, and what you and the poster you were replying to seem to be talking about is a Cryptolocker type thing. ---
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2015, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yay-my-scammers-are-back/734544/14 "2015-10-14T11:17:23Z")
> [@MacTech](#): > > All your Bitcoin are belong to us? Damn, I came in just to say the same thing. 🆒 > [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I saw an article by someone whose computer was being held hostage by these scammers. The writer was trying to pay the ransom but was having trouble doing so. Surprisingly (or perhaps not so surprisingly) the people running the extortion had really good customer support, and they helped the writer with obtaining and transmitting the bitcoins. Was the customer support outsourced to another continent? ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2015, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/yay-my-scammers-are-back/734544/15 "2015-10-15T08:43:02Z")
That was Microsoft, not unscrupulous scammers. Just try NOT installing [del]Windows[/del] bitcoin 10.