Cryptocurrency blackmail scam email: ghnbogeyaum@outlook.com 'I hacked your computer' or cell phone, tablet, etc.

 

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Cryptocurrency blackmail scam email: ghnbogeyaum@outlook.com 'I hacked your computer' or cell phone, tablet, etc.

With news stories of hacking into credit card companies, Facebook accounts, email accounts, computers and cell phones being hacked and more, scammers are busy trying to take advantage of fears of being hacked. While it certainly is possible to have all of these hacked, many scammers simply prey upon consumers' fear of being hacked to extort their victims into surrendering money. The FBI is seeing an increase in the number of reported extortion attempts, claiming your device has been hacked. In one recent month, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center, or IC3, received an additional 13,000 complaints about the extortion scam over the previous months. Extortion occurs when someone threatens to distribute your private and sensitive material if you don't pay a ransom fee, usually by Bitcoin. The scammers may claim they used your webcam to record you or installed software to record websites you visited. None of that is actually true. They probably got your email address  from a recent data breach at your bank or other institution. .So, they may really know one of your old or recent passwords, and they include it in the message to prove it. They hope that will scare you into paying them the blackmail.

Here is a common, and unfortunately, popular example of this.

The email

A victim receives an email similar to the one below. In this email, the scammer claims:

1. He hacked into your device (computer, tablet, phone). He says that allowed  "your browser initiated working as a RDP that has a key logger which gave me access to your screen and also web camera"
2. His software "collected your complete contacts from your Messenger, Facebook, as well as emailaccount"
3. He activated the camera on your device and recorded you watching porn and created a split screen video of you and the porn.
4. He can tell that you read the email
5. He can't be traced.

After making these claims, he then issues his threats: you pay him by bitcoin or he will send the video to everyone in your contact list.

 

Example scam email:

 

I've received this twice in two weeks and my wife also received it from Return-Path:   the subject line has a former password I used (but no longer use) years ago.  I'll first paste the email message asking for $2000 US bitcoin payment. 

The scammers email:

"𝙸 𝚍𝚘 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠, 𝚘𝚛𝚐𝚊𝚗𝚒𝚜𝚝, 𝚒𝚜 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚙𝚊𝚜𝚜𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚍.

𝙸 𝚛𝚎𝚚𝚞𝚒𝚛𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚏𝚞𝚕𝚕 𝚊𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚗𝚎𝚡𝚝 𝟸𝟺 𝚑𝚛𝚜, 𝚘𝚛 𝙸 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚖𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚜𝚞𝚛𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚕𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚐𝚞𝚒𝚕𝚝 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚎𝚡𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎.

𝙷𝚎𝚕𝚕𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎, 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚍𝚘 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚖𝚎 𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚘𝚗𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢. 𝚈𝚎𝚝 𝙸 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚙𝚛𝚎𝚝𝚝𝚢 𝚖𝚞𝚌𝚑 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚌𝚎𝚛𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚢𝚘𝚞. 𝚈𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚙𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚘𝚗𝚊𝚕 𝚏𝚋 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚊𝚌𝚝 𝚕𝚒𝚜𝚝, 𝚜𝚖𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚙𝚑𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚜 𝚊𝚜 𝚠𝚎𝚕𝚕 𝚊𝚜 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚘𝚗𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚟𝚒𝚝𝚢 𝚘𝚗 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚙𝚞𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝚙𝚛𝚎𝚟𝚒𝚘𝚞𝚜 𝟷𝟸𝟺 𝚍𝚊𝚢𝚜.

𝙸𝚗𝚌𝚕𝚞𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐, 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚜𝚎𝚕𝚏 𝚙𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚞𝚛𝚎 𝚟𝚒𝚍𝚎𝚘 𝚏𝚘𝚘𝚝𝚊𝚐𝚎, 𝚠𝚑𝚒𝚌𝚑 𝚋𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝚖𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚙𝚛𝚒𝚖𝚊𝚛𝚢 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚘𝚗 𝚠𝚑𝚢 𝙸 '𝚖 𝚌𝚛𝚊𝚏𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚜𝚙𝚎𝚌𝚒𝚏𝚒𝚌 𝚖𝚊𝚒𝚕 𝚝𝚘 𝚢𝚘𝚞.

𝚆𝚎𝚕𝚕 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚙𝚛𝚎𝚟𝚒𝚘𝚞𝚜 𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚟𝚒𝚜𝚒𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚊𝚍𝚞𝚕𝚝 𝚖𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚊𝚕 𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚙𝚊𝚐𝚎𝚜, 𝚖𝚢 𝚖𝚊𝚕𝚠𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚍 𝚞𝚙 𝚋𝚎𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚟𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚒𝚗𝚜𝚒𝚍𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚙𝚞𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚠𝚑𝚒𝚌𝚑 𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚍 𝚞𝚙 𝚕𝚘𝚐𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊 𝚎𝚢𝚎-𝚌𝚊𝚝𝚌𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚟𝚒𝚍𝚎𝚘 𝚘𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚜𝚎𝚕𝚏 𝚙𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚞𝚛𝚎 𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚢 𝚜𝚒𝚖𝚙𝚕𝚢 𝚋𝚢 𝚝𝚛𝚒𝚐𝚐𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚠𝚎𝚋 𝚌𝚊𝚖𝚎𝚛𝚊.
(𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚐𝚘𝚝 𝚊 𝚎𝚡𝚌𝚎𝚙𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝚘𝚍𝚍 𝚝𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚎 𝚋𝚢 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚢 𝚕𝚖𝚊𝚘)

𝙸 𝚘𝚠𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚑𝚘𝚕𝚎 𝚛𝚎𝚌𝚘𝚛𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐. 𝙹𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚒𝚗 𝚌𝚊𝚜𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚔 𝙸 '𝚖 𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚢𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍, 𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚛𝚎𝚙𝚕𝚢 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚘𝚏 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙸 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚋𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚠𝚊𝚛𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚒𝚌𝚞𝚕𝚊𝚛 𝚛𝚎𝚌𝚘𝚛𝚍𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚘𝚖𝚕𝚢 𝚝𝚘 𝟷𝟶 𝚙𝚎𝚘𝚙𝚕𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚛𝚎𝚌𝚘𝚐𝚗𝚒𝚣𝚎.

𝙸𝚝 𝚌𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚎𝚗𝚍 𝚞𝚙 𝚋𝚎𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚏𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚍, 𝚌𝚘 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚔𝚎𝚛𝚜, 𝚋𝚘𝚜𝚜, 𝚖𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚏𝚊𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛 (𝙸 𝚍𝚘𝚗'𝚝 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠! 𝙼𝚢 𝚜𝚘𝚏𝚝𝚠𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚘𝚖𝚕𝚢 𝚙𝚒𝚌𝚔 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚜).

𝚆𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚋𝚎 𝚊𝚋𝚕𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚐𝚊𝚣𝚎 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚘 𝚊𝚗𝚢𝚘𝚗𝚎'𝚜 𝚎𝚢𝚎𝚜 𝚊𝚐𝚊𝚒𝚗 𝚊𝚏𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚒𝚝? 𝙸 𝚚𝚞𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝...

𝙽𝚘𝚗𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚕𝚎𝚜𝚜, 𝚒𝚝 𝚍𝚘𝚎𝚜𝚗'𝚝 𝚗𝚎𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚋𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚙𝚊𝚝𝚑.

𝙸'𝚖 𝚐𝚘𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚘 𝚖𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚊 𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎, 𝚗𝚘 𝚗𝚎𝚐𝚘𝚝𝚒𝚊𝚋𝚕𝚎 𝚘𝚏𝚏𝚎𝚛.

𝙿𝚞𝚛𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚜𝚎 𝚄𝚂𝙳 𝟸𝟶𝟶𝟶 𝚒𝚗 𝚋𝚒𝚝𝚌𝚘𝚒𝚗 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚜𝚎𝚗𝚍 𝚒𝚝 𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚕𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚋𝚎𝚕𝚘𝚠 𝚊𝚍𝚍𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚜:



[𝚌𝚊𝚜𝚎 𝚜𝚎𝚗𝚜𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚙𝚢 & 𝚙𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚎 𝚒𝚝, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚛𝚎𝚖𝚘𝚟𝚎 ** 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝚒𝚝]

(𝙸𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚍𝚘𝚗'𝚝 𝚞𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚑𝚘𝚠, 𝚕𝚘𝚘𝚔 𝚘𝚗𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 𝚑𝚘𝚠 𝚝𝚘 𝚙𝚞𝚛𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚜𝚎 𝚋𝚒𝚝𝚌𝚘𝚒𝚗. 𝙳𝚘 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚜𝚝𝚎 𝚖𝚢 𝚙𝚛𝚎𝚌𝚒𝚘𝚞𝚜 𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎)

𝙸𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚜𝚎𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 '𝚍𝚘𝚗𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗' (𝚠𝚑𝚢 𝚍𝚘𝚗'𝚝 𝚠𝚎 𝚌𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝?). 𝙸𝚖𝚖𝚎𝚍𝚒𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚕𝚢 𝚊𝚏𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝, 𝙸 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚍𝚒𝚜𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚎𝚊𝚛 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚗𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚖𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚊𝚌𝚝 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚊𝚐𝚊𝚒𝚗. 𝙸 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚐𝚎𝚝 𝚛𝚒𝚍 𝚘𝚏 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝙸'𝚟𝚎 𝚐𝚘𝚝 𝚒𝚗 𝚛𝚎𝚕𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚘 𝚢𝚘𝚞. 𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝚖𝚊𝚢 𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢 𝚠𝚎𝚕𝚕 𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚛𝚢 𝚘𝚗 𝚕𝚒𝚟𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚗𝚘𝚛𝚖𝚊𝚕 𝚍𝚊𝚢 𝚝𝚘 𝚍𝚊𝚢 𝚕𝚒𝚏𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚢𝚕𝚎 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚊𝚋𝚜𝚘𝚕𝚞𝚝𝚎𝚕𝚢 𝚗𝚘 𝚏𝚎𝚊𝚛.

𝚈𝚘𝚞'𝚟𝚎 𝚐𝚘𝚝 𝟸𝟺 𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚛𝚜 𝚒𝚗 𝚘𝚛𝚍𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚘 𝚍𝚘 𝚜𝚘. 𝚈𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎 𝚋𝚎𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚜 𝚊𝚜 𝚜𝚘𝚘𝚗 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚎-𝚖𝚊𝚒𝚕. 𝙸 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚐𝚘𝚝 𝚊𝚗 𝚞𝚗𝚒𝚚𝚞𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚍𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚝𝚎𝚕𝚕 𝚖𝚎 𝚊𝚜 𝚜𝚘𝚘𝚗 𝚊𝚜 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚐𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚎-𝚖𝚊𝚒𝚕 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚍𝚘𝚗'𝚝 𝚊𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚖𝚙𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚊𝚌𝚝 𝚜𝚖𝚊𝚛𝚝."
𝚋𝚎𝚐𝚒𝚗𝚜 𝚊𝚜 𝚜𝚘𝚘𝚗 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚎-𝚖𝚊𝚒𝚕. 𝙸 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚐𝚘𝚝 𝚊𝚗 𝚞𝚗𝚒𝚚𝚞𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚍𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚝𝚎𝚕𝚕 𝚖𝚎 𝚊𝚜 𝚜𝚘𝚘𝚗 𝚊𝚜 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚐𝚘 𝚝𝚑𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚎-𝚖𝚊𝚒𝚕 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚍𝚘𝚗'𝚝 𝚊𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚖𝚙𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚊𝚌𝚝 𝚜𝚖𝚊𝚛𝚝."

The truth

Notice that except for your email address, all of the information is vague, general and definitely not specific to you. Notice also that he provides no proof or evidence of his claims. It's pretty obvious that if you were to attempt to extort someone like this, you would provide at least a brief clip of the video you claimed to have to prove that you could follow through. This is an obvious sign of the scam nature.  Of course, if you don't visit porn websites, then you would also obviously know immediately this is a scam. Unless of course, you believe you watch porn in your sleep ("somnapornography" )

While all of the claims are theoretically possible, it would take a pretty sophisticated scammer to achieve this.  And a scammer like that is not going to target individuals; they'll go after corporations and bigger targets.

Variations

Some versions of the scam, like the one above, include one of the recipient's real passwords as "proof" that their claims are true. Criminals are sending emails and letters using their victims' authentic personally identifiable information to make their claims appear legitimate.  How did they get your password? Most like they bought a list of usernames and passwords on the "dark web" from other hackers from a data breach like the ones you've heard about in the news: Experian, Yahoo, Wells Fargo, etc.  Which means they are using a cut and paste program to send out thousands, or even millions of the scams.

What to do

• First, do NOT reply to the scammer.

• Do NOT pay the scammer.

• Never send compromising images of yourself to anyone, no matter who they are or who they say they are.

• Do not open attachments from people you do not know.

• Turn off your electronic devices and web cameras - and cover or physically disconnect web cameras when you are not using them.

• Report the scam to the FTC: www.FTC.gov/Complaint.

• Report the scammer to Bitcoin (see below)

Report the scammer to Bitcoin

How To Report a Bitcoin Scam, Blackmail, Extortion or Theft:

1. Create a free account on Bitcoin (you need this to report a scam to them; it costs nothing and you don't need to give them any sensitive information; just an email address so they can get back to you)

2. Then login on Bitcoin

3. Enter the bitcoin address in the box on this page

4. Then click the "Report Scam" button on the page that comes up in step 3 (not here) (it looks like this: )

If you are receiving sextortion threats, you are not alone. The FTC has been warning about these scams for years.  The FBI says in many sextortion cases, the perpetrator is an adult pretending to be a teenager, and you are just one of the many victims being targeted by the same person. If you believe you're a victim of sextortion, or know someone else who is, the FBI wants to hear from you:

Contact your local FBI office (or toll-free at 1-800-CALL-FBI).

Next, the FBI recommends that if you have experienced this situation please notify the IC3 by filing a complaint.

If the email contains information that identifies you personally (other than your email address alone; for example, address, complete name, etc.) you should contact your local or state police and local FBI office.

If you also forward a copy of the emails you receive here, we will examine them as well.

 

To see many other versions of the porn extortion scam, click here.

 

 

 

For a comprehensive list of national and international agencies to report scams, see this page.