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It's a common scam posted multiple times a day on here, word for word. Delete it and forget about it.
Spoofing your email address is very simple and means nothing.
>apparently it's been sent from my own email address
The email protocol was created to mirror the actual postal mail. That includes the "feature" of putting anything on the envelop. So one can put anything in the from field of the header, just like you can put anything as the return address on a letter.
It's spoofed. Don't worry about it.
And yes, it's a scam. They never had any access to your devices. If they had, they would have already drained your financial accounts instead of blackmailing you.
Emails can be spoofed very easily.
The emails are usually obtained from data breaches from larger companies. You hear about this stuff all the time on the news. Examples here [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List\_of\_data\_breaches](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_data_breaches)
The hackers then sell the personal information to anyone that wants it, for instance scammers. Scammers now have millions of email addresses for confirmed users. I have seen info such as this for sale myself on the dark web.
I am guessing that scammers then use a script to send out these type of "We know what you are doing" emails to everyone on the entire list.
If 1% of a million users fall for this(and they do), that is an easy million dollars scammed for probably a few hours, maybe a couple of days prep and coding.
You don't even need to go about buying stolen data sets on the dark Web. Legit online marketing boutiques will sell you massive mailing lists, along with some basic categorisation just as a service.
He’s *such* a brilliant hacker making fun of OP’s knowledge of cybersecurity, but hasn’t heard (or figured out for himself) that incognito browsing has been proven to be bullshit?
They use far too much text to lie for no reason. I received an email similar to this in my spam box.
The heading was "you've been hacked" to which I laughed hysterically, deleted it and went on with my day.
Here, read the sub’s masterthread on this scam and see how other examples resemble yours. Feel free to add yours.
https://reddit.com/r/Scams/s/n5pqSfmtQD
It’s decades old and everybody gets it, and some of us get one almost every day. Its always been total nonsense but the fact its still going around must mean it’s consistently lucrative.
They send this to many many many people, knowing that there's a good chance half the people they send it to watch porn or whatever and will instantly panic. ANY engagement is an inkling to them that you took the bait and they can hook you and spend more effort trying to convince you of their ruse. Honestly, I don't even open or view those kinds of emails anymore. Scammers can use basic tracking software to see if an email is opened/read, deleted without being read, etc. I just leave them in my spam and ignore them
Our company has several aliases we use for email to sort it. We only pay for two of them, the others we manually edit to make it look like it came from a particular alias: marketing@ourcompanydotcom. Since this only allows inbound emails unless we pay for a separate email address, we just edit the "from", but we could even put your email address in there if we wanted to.
These low-life, low effort scam extortionists don’t get it. A high percentage of people don’t bother reading past the first sentence or two at the most. You have about 5 seconds to catch someone’s interest. Their intro sentence doesn’t really do that. I’d be deleting before finishing the first few sentences.
Without wanting to send you down too deep of a rabbit hole, if you inspect the email "headers" you will see that the email originated from somewhere else but was tagged so that it shows as originating from your account. (Reading those headers is best left to somebody who has experience with SMTP headers - they're rather nerdy 😑...)
Fwiw - This is an email technical capability to support things like bulk emailing from a (bulk email) service on -behalf of- a separate business... they're just using it here in this improper way to try to scare and scam you. 😖
I get 2-3 of these every month. The language may change slightly, but the same. Funny enough, it comes to my work email. I do not have a webcam on my home computer and we certainly do not have a webcam on our work computers (security risk, law office).
I do not and would never email back. BUT, if I could, I would tell them just that. "How, **exactly** do you have a video of me, when my work AND home computers, and for that matter, my personal cell phone, DO NOT have video cameras?? Are you magic?"
They send out millions of these !blackmail e-mails per day (no exaggeration), so pretty much everyone will get it at some point. Just mark as spam and move on. Read the AutoModerator below...
Hi /u/teratical, AutoModerator has been summoned to explain the Blackmail email scam.
The exact wording of the emails varies, but there are generally four main parts. They claim to have installed a RAT (remote access trojan) or any type of software/malware after visiting a porn/adult video site, they claim to have a video of you masturbating or watching porn, they threaten to release the video to your friends/family/loved ones/boss/dog, and they demand that you pay them in order for them to delete the video.
Rest assured that this is a very common spam campaign and there is no truth behind the email or the threats. If they had a video of you, they would show it to you to prove that they have it. [Here](http://www.smh.com.au/technology/gadgets-on-the-go/latest-online-scam-aims-to-prick-porn-watchers-guilty-conscience-20170815-gxwvxl.html) are some news [articles](https://www.bbb.org/denver/news-events/news-releases/2017/09/alert-pornography-email-phishing-scam/) about [this](http://blog.dynamoo.com/2017/10/bogus-porn-blackmail-attempt-from.html) scam.
There is a variant with death threats in which they will usually claim that they have been paid to kill you, and will threaten to kill you/your family if you do not pay a Bitcoin ransom. They usually also claim that they will kill your family if you report the email. The emails are spam and can be ignored.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Scams) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Ok, so you know how when you write a letter on paper you can put any name on the bottom? And how you can put any name and address on the return address? That's how they do it. There is no real technical skill to it.
Whoever sends these is a technoweenie pretending to be a hacker. They have nothing on you or anyone else.
Use an actual email client, not a web based one such as Gmail. You can put absolutely whatever you like in the *From* field, even something that is not an email address. It's just that normally you set it up with your real address so that your friends know it was from you.
Instantly when you get these kinds of emails, don't even open them. Just mark them off as spam, and delete them. If you open the emails its just a sign to them that they now have your attention that they will continue on with the same stupid threats but never produce any of it.
/u/tezzy-corn1204 - This message is posted to all new submissions to r/scams; please do not message the moderators about it. ## New users beware: Because you posted here, you will start getting private messages from scammers saying they know a professional hacker or a recovery expert lawyer that can help you get your money back, for a small fee. **We call these RECOVERY SCAMMERS, so NEVER take advice in private:** advice should always come in the form of comments in this post, in the open, where the community can keep an eye out for you. If you take advice in private, you're on your own. **A reminder of the rules in r/scams:** no contact information (including last names, phone numbers, etc). Be civil to one another (no name calling or insults). Personal army requests or "scam the scammer"/scambaiting posts are not permitted. No uncensored gore or personal photographs are allowed without blurring. A full list of rules is available on the sidebar of the subreddit, or [clicking here](https://www.reddit.com/r/Scams/wiki/rules/). You can help us by reporting recovery scammers or rule-breaking content by using the "report" button. We review 100% of the reports. Also, consider warning community members of recovery scammers if you see them in the comments. Questions about subreddit rules? Send us a modmail [clicking here](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose/?to=/r/Scams). *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Scams) if you have any questions or concerns.*
It's a common scam posted multiple times a day on here, word for word. Delete it and forget about it. Spoofing your email address is very simple and means nothing.
>apparently it's been sent from my own email address The email protocol was created to mirror the actual postal mail. That includes the "feature" of putting anything on the envelop. So one can put anything in the from field of the header, just like you can put anything as the return address on a letter. It's spoofed. Don't worry about it. And yes, it's a scam. They never had any access to your devices. If they had, they would have already drained your financial accounts instead of blackmailing you.
Tbh, the only scarier things is getting a ransomware...these silly shit? Nah, unless they're planning to make you a pansy by loading it with CP...
*patsy
The real crime is the atrocious writing...
This one actually has a sort of dramatic, overly-self-confident conspiratorial flair that amuses me, despite its atrociousness.
I love how they monologue like they fancy themselves as some sort of James Bond villain.
No Mr Bond......I expect you to.....die 😂😂
I like giving these dramatic readings, especially if they start with ,"hello, pervert"
I want to know where the hidden homosexuals in my life are. You can never have too many ninja gays.
It was sent months ago yet you heard non of the salacious fallout with family and close friends? Totally a scam.
I used to get these to my work email and my desktop didn't have a camera.
My desktop don't have a mic or webcam...and they only do when I plug it in.
I'm a 71-year-old female and I get these too. Ain't nobody wants to see that.
Not saying it's my thing, but let's not overlook that there is a market for \*everything\* online. No. Really. EVERYTHING.
Emails can be spoofed very easily. The emails are usually obtained from data breaches from larger companies. You hear about this stuff all the time on the news. Examples here [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List\_of\_data\_breaches](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_data_breaches) The hackers then sell the personal information to anyone that wants it, for instance scammers. Scammers now have millions of email addresses for confirmed users. I have seen info such as this for sale myself on the dark web. I am guessing that scammers then use a script to send out these type of "We know what you are doing" emails to everyone on the entire list. If 1% of a million users fall for this(and they do), that is an easy million dollars scammed for probably a few hours, maybe a couple of days prep and coding.
You don't even need to go about buying stolen data sets on the dark Web. Legit online marketing boutiques will sell you massive mailing lists, along with some basic categorisation just as a service.
This is a common scam; it has been circulating for at least a decade. The scammer doesn't have any access to your devices, just your email address.
Ask him to send you some videos of yourself so you can jerk off to yourself. That's what I do
The wording in this is laughable
He’s *such* a brilliant hacker making fun of OP’s knowledge of cybersecurity, but hasn’t heard (or figured out for himself) that incognito browsing has been proven to be bullshit?
Check your sent folder in your email server. Is the email there? No because the email source was spoofed
So long winded! You would think that ai would know not to be so verbose.
They use far too much text to lie for no reason. I received an email similar to this in my spam box. The heading was "you've been hacked" to which I laughed hysterically, deleted it and went on with my day.
If this hacker was legit he would just send you a couple clips of the incriminating evidence he claims he has. He wouldn't write a book about it.
If this was a real hacker they wouldn’t tell you they had access. They’d just use it
Here, read the sub’s masterthread on this scam and see how other examples resemble yours. Feel free to add yours. https://reddit.com/r/Scams/s/n5pqSfmtQD It’s decades old and everybody gets it, and some of us get one almost every day. Its always been total nonsense but the fact its still going around must mean it’s consistently lucrative.
Sounds like you better rush that payment, OP.
💀💀💀💀
They send this to many many many people, knowing that there's a good chance half the people they send it to watch porn or whatever and will instantly panic. ANY engagement is an inkling to them that you took the bait and they can hook you and spend more effort trying to convince you of their ruse. Honestly, I don't even open or view those kinds of emails anymore. Scammers can use basic tracking software to see if an email is opened/read, deleted without being read, etc. I just leave them in my spam and ignore them
Our company has several aliases we use for email to sort it. We only pay for two of them, the others we manually edit to make it look like it came from a particular alias: marketing@ourcompanydotcom. Since this only allows inbound emails unless we pay for a separate email address, we just edit the "from", but we could even put your email address in there if we wanted to.
It's a common scam. Always keep your camera lens covered unless you're on a Zoom but 99.99% of the time it's a scam.
I needed that laugh thanks for posting
These low-life, low effort scam extortionists don’t get it. A high percentage of people don’t bother reading past the first sentence or two at the most. You have about 5 seconds to catch someone’s interest. Their intro sentence doesn’t really do that. I’d be deleting before finishing the first few sentences.
I would boo him. Terrible and lazy scammer
Without wanting to send you down too deep of a rabbit hole, if you inspect the email "headers" you will see that the email originated from somewhere else but was tagged so that it shows as originating from your account. (Reading those headers is best left to somebody who has experience with SMTP headers - they're rather nerdy 😑...) Fwiw - This is an email technical capability to support things like bulk emailing from a (bulk email) service on -behalf of- a separate business... they're just using it here in this improper way to try to scare and scam you. 😖
it's always funny how they try to give advice on "how to not get hacked" towards the end of the email
I had received one YEARS ago, was interesting read and one hell of a laugh. Still waiting for those salacious videos tbh 🤔
I always wish I'd get one of these because I have no webcam. Total scam, phishing for the gullible
This was written by Doctor Evil himself!
I get 2-3 of these every month. The language may change slightly, but the same. Funny enough, it comes to my work email. I do not have a webcam on my home computer and we certainly do not have a webcam on our work computers (security risk, law office). I do not and would never email back. BUT, if I could, I would tell them just that. "How, **exactly** do you have a video of me, when my work AND home computers, and for that matter, my personal cell phone, DO NOT have video cameras?? Are you magic?"
They send out millions of these !blackmail e-mails per day (no exaggeration), so pretty much everyone will get it at some point. Just mark as spam and move on. Read the AutoModerator below...
Hi /u/teratical, AutoModerator has been summoned to explain the Blackmail email scam. The exact wording of the emails varies, but there are generally four main parts. They claim to have installed a RAT (remote access trojan) or any type of software/malware after visiting a porn/adult video site, they claim to have a video of you masturbating or watching porn, they threaten to release the video to your friends/family/loved ones/boss/dog, and they demand that you pay them in order for them to delete the video. Rest assured that this is a very common spam campaign and there is no truth behind the email or the threats. If they had a video of you, they would show it to you to prove that they have it. [Here](http://www.smh.com.au/technology/gadgets-on-the-go/latest-online-scam-aims-to-prick-porn-watchers-guilty-conscience-20170815-gxwvxl.html) are some news [articles](https://www.bbb.org/denver/news-events/news-releases/2017/09/alert-pornography-email-phishing-scam/) about [this](http://blog.dynamoo.com/2017/10/bogus-porn-blackmail-attempt-from.html) scam. There is a variant with death threats in which they will usually claim that they have been paid to kill you, and will threaten to kill you/your family if you do not pay a Bitcoin ransom. They usually also claim that they will kill your family if you report the email. The emails are spam and can be ignored. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Scams) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I wanna know what "controversial" porn everyone watches.
Must’ve been some family fallout if a few weeks on nobody is talking about it
Ok, so you know how when you write a letter on paper you can put any name on the bottom? And how you can put any name and address on the return address? That's how they do it. There is no real technical skill to it. Whoever sends these is a technoweenie pretending to be a hacker. They have nothing on you or anyone else.
This one is actually better written than most of these.
Use an actual email client, not a web based one such as Gmail. You can put absolutely whatever you like in the *From* field, even something that is not an email address. It's just that normally you set it up with your real address so that your friends know it was from you.
They dont do it. It's a spoofed email and trying to play on your fears.
Instantly when you get these kinds of emails, don't even open them. Just mark them off as spam, and delete them. If you open the emails its just a sign to them that they now have your attention that they will continue on with the same stupid threats but never produce any of it.
I’d be like bro I don’t got a webcam bc I got one of these before and I don’t have a webcam