You are a very naughty person and I know all about you!

You are a very naughty person and I know all about you!

Email blackmail scams are in full vigor. They’ve been around for a while but never more prevalent than they are right now.  We’re publishing this so you will know what an email blackmail scam is, what the email contains and you know how to deal with it — if and when you get these kinds of emails.

In the wake our article(s) about the myriad of tech support scams floating around on the Internet, we have gotten several emails from readers who reminded us about another scam.  And although this scam is much less believable, it can and does make people panic – some people have even paid the blackmail.

But it’s just another scam designed you to scare you (sound familiar?) into paying the criminal.

Here’s one we received that appeared to have come from one of our @thundercloud.net email accounts. Not to worry though, anyone with a little computer skill can forge an address. We receive a few of these a week – all worded similarly:

Hi! As you may have noticed, I sent you an email from your account.

This means that I have full access to your device and accounts.  I’ve been watching you for a few months now. The fact is that you were infected with malware through an adult site that you visited.

If you are not familiar with this, I will explain.

Trojan Virus gives me full access and control device.

This means that I can see everything on your screen, turn on the camera and microphone, but you do not know about it. I also have access to all your contacts and all your correspondence.

Why your antivirus did not detect malware? Answer: My malware uses the driver, I update its signatures every 4 hours so that your antivirus is silent.

I made a video showing how you satisfy yourself in the left half of the screen, and in the right half you see the video that you watched. With one click of the mouse, I can send this video to all your emails and contacts.

If you want to prevent this, transfer the amount of $2000 to my bitcoin address (if you do not know how to do this, write to Google: “Buy Bitcoin”). My bitcoin address (BTC Wallet) is: 124yCNJHAwda8Kgxv9DswpS9k16XXXEstSqcJ

After receiving the payment, I will delete the video and you will never hear me again. I give you 48 hours to pay. I have a notice reading this letter, and the timer will work when you see this letter. Filing a complaint somewhere does not make sense because this email cannot be tracked like my bitcoin address. I do not make any mistakes.

If I find that you have shared this message with someone else, the video will be immediately distributed. If you want to see proof, reply with I9dA1hX in the subject this mail.

Regards, your undercover follower.

Many of the ones we receive are far more risque than this one – so much so we wouldn’t even attempt to publish them. And some of these blackmail threats appear to have part of a real password included.  It can scare you and cause you to panic and that’s just what the sender wants. But not to worry – there are tens of millions of these being sent every day. And these miscreants don’t have access to your passwords, your email, your computer or anything else. They operated under the principle if you throw enough garbage against a wall, some of it is going to stick.  

Don’t be fooled. Don’t fall for these email blackmail scams.