Stan Higgins reports:
An American has received a blackmail email demanding payment in bitcoin after user data from the extramarital affair platform Ashley Madison was leaked.
The email, provided to CoinDesk and dated 20th August, was sent by an entity calling itself “Team GrayFlay” and contained the individual’s name and personal address. The user was instructed to send a payment in bitcoin or face exposure.
[…]
“Unfortunately your data was leaked in the recent hacking of Ashley Madison and I now have your information. If you would like to prevent me from finding and sharing this information with your significant other send exactly 2.00000054 bitcoins (approx. Value $450 USD) to the following address…”
Read more on CoinDesk. The same blackmail threat was also received by an individual in New Zealand, as Stuff reports.
I’m glad there isn’t any types of harm.
And when they pay…. They are now marked as a live one, and this hacker ends up selling the persons email to another who will try the exact same thing.
Since the website doesn’t have any email verification, all one has to do is say, someone signed them up for the AM account, and then here came the blackmail.
Don’t answer the emails…. then they have NO idea whether the account is alive or dead.
When you combine TOO MUCH personal information in social media sites, a crook can tie all of this together and make your life even more miserable.
Making a big deal out of the incoming emails WILL make a big deal in real life. Ignore them. Don’t even open an email up from people you do not know. They can imbed a photo or other symbol in the email. Then all they have to do is to look to see which potential victims have opened up the emails, and will use the scare tactic to send follow up emails.
Make sure your PREVIEW Pane for messages is OFF on all folders, as well as returning any request for email receipts. Set up your email to deposit all potential spam into the deleted folder and ensure every time you close the email, the trash is emptied.