This is starting to squick me out

Ephemera and whimsy
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Joan
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This is starting to squick me out

Post by Joan » 5 years ago

Joan wrote:
5 years ago
[..] but apparently my account has been hacked dozens of times and I am going to have to send $$$$ in bitcoin so they don't send video of me "having fun on certain websites" to all my contacts.

Bummer.
For example
1554562424121.jpg
I'm getting one or two these most days (pause for obligatory jokes). They are rubbish, designed to trap the technologically ignorant. They are too lazy to even bother putting in a "Facebook pixel". But it's just so nasty, sending out thousands of emails with the hope terrifying a handful of individuals into paying them a lot of money.

The source of the email addresses are from websites that have been hacked, like Tumblr and Dropbox. Also one "fsc" - I hope that's not the financial services commission.
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Sonic Budgie
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Re: This is starting to squick me out

Post by Sonic Budgie » 5 years ago

I get a couple of them a day too, I've also noticed that the amount demanded has slowly increased over the last 12 months or so. I would say however that as my family and friends already know I'm a wanker they don't bother me unduly.
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Rutabaga
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Re: This is starting to squick me out

Post by Rutabaga » 5 years ago

I don't understand this, I never get these! I once got the "my partner was killed and he had the same surname as you so I need you to accept a massive sum of money on his behalf to get it out of the country" one, but that is the only time ever.
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Dunckel
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Re: This is starting to squick me out

Post by Dunckel » 5 years ago

I've never had one of these either, in fact I hardly get any spam, just the odd viagra offer, that's all
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Re: This is starting to squick me out

Post by Rocky » 5 years ago

I had one last week. Apparently they’ve got a video of me naked watching porn. It’s going to be emailed and texted to all my contacts unless I pay the equivalent of $1000 in bitcoins. Please let me know if you receive anything dear friends.
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Re: This is starting to squick me out

Post by Rutabaga » 5 years ago

I'm standing by, will it be good?
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Re: This is starting to squick me out

Post by Rocky » 5 years ago

Not as good as it would have been if they’d videoed me 40 years ago.
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Rutabaga
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Re: This is starting to squick me out

Post by Rutabaga » 5 years ago

Oh, I always thought experience was more important than youth, but hey ho.
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Rocky
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Re: This is starting to squick me out

Post by Rocky » 5 years ago

I’m not sure I have either.
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Joan
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Re: This is starting to squick me out

Post by Joan » 5 years ago

Oh, the other lazy part is that this isn't a screen shot, the email is basically empty, with the above file as an attached image. I don't know why they do this because it's impossible to copy the wallet address, so anyone responding would have to type it in by hand. Nearly zero likelihood of their victim typing it correctly.
Rutabaga wrote:
5 years ago
I don't understand this, I never get these! I once got the "my partner was killed and he had the same surname as you so I need you to accept a massive sum of money on his behalf to get it out of the country" one, but that is the only time ever.
You've just never signed up to the right websites. I use a unique email for every web sign up, so I can see where they got their addresses from. Every one is coming from a website whose user database was hacked, or that the site no longer exists, and presumably stopped taking care of it's data. E.g. Dropbox had 60M emails stolen in 2012.
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Joan
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Re: This is starting to squick me out

Post by Joan » 5 years ago

Rutabaga wrote:
5 years ago
Oh, I always thought experience was more important than youth, but hey ho.
I've got some case studies that disprove that.
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Sonic Budgie
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Re: This is starting to squick me out

Post by Sonic Budgie » 5 years ago

Mine are always to my work email, it get's used a lot for anything I buy online that I have delivered to the shop so it's probably been sold on a fair few times.
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