Blackmain

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I got this cute email today:

“redorevetohotona <redorevetohotona@bol.com.br>

Need to be careful

You have to read this notification through! If pay no heed to notification, the effect will be irreversible.
I captured your your self-relaxation via your web camera..
The police won’t solve your problem!!!
I’m a foreign citizen, hence it is complicated to find me!
In any event I will manage to damage ur reputation.
I stole the contacts of your friends and relatives and received access to your social networks.
It is pointless to explain u how this happened, but I’m gonna advise u to update your antivirus and avoid clicking on sites with porn!
I will give you 24 hours after opening this letter (I will receive a notification ) to buy my silence.
Send 20 lite coin to La14FCMi4t5kopzQr31sPD3FRBmBsZQgEd wallet during twenty four hours and be 100% sure I will get rid of all the blackmain on you!
If I do not receive money for my silence, I will send all the compromising evidence to yr buddies and relatives and share it in social networks.
It’s unlikely that anyone would be happy to keep company with you.
You can beg, but it won’t work out. You are given twenty four hours!
Don’t send anything to this email, it’s used to send messages, I won’t use it.
I apologize for my English, I’m not a native speaker!”

 
I don’t have a web camera, but it looks like I’m just gonna have to have “blackmain” on me, because I don’t have any lite coin, either.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

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SueW, Myst, Barry, Elly

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That’s an active bitcoin account, but they all appear to have a novel sender email address. Might be worth adding to the report history, if you can be bothered?

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Rick Corbett

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that’s hilarious. too bad he didn’t call you that would have been one fun conversation.

Barry
Windows 11 v23H2

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I generally delete unread any email that comes from a totally unexpected and unfamiliar address without opening it first, because I suspect that it might carry some nasty malware within itself that merely opening it to read its contents could cause an infection.

I do not know how likely that is (probably not very) but why tempt the devil? And the contents are likely to be pretty dull, anyways. I find those of the letter to bbearren no exception, quite frankly.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
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E-mails like this make me fall about laughing. I’m a sixty-eight year old granny – are they trying to tell me they’ve got a photo of me with my curlers in?

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Myst

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Only if you relax with them on in front of your PC’s webcam.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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Myst

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While we are on the subject of people being blackmailed with intimate pictures gleaned from their webcam stream:

I only need to use it on relatively rare occasions. In the meantime, I keep the webcam turned off as well as the built-in microphone. And, because I have read somewhere that it is possible for hackers to turn it on again if they manage to infect the computer with the right kind of bug, when not in use I also have a small piece of masking tape covering the tiny lens on the laptop screen. There is nothing further, other to be careful not to discuss matters of real importance within its possible range of reception, that I can do about the mic beyond turning it off in its setup. Unless someone here has a practical suggestion on that as well?

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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OscarCP wrote:

There is nothing further, other to be careful not to discuss matters of real importance within its possible range of reception, that I can do about the mic beyond turning it off in its setup. Unless someone here has a practical suggestion on that as well?

Maybe: have you a headset you can plug in, which would take over the microphone function?

Kirsty wrote:

That’s an active bitcoin account

I didn’t check, but the email says Litecoin, which is a different crypto currency from Bitcoin.

Lugh.
~
Alienware Aurora R6; Win10 Home x64 1803; Office 365 x32
i7-7700; GeForce GTX 1060; 16GB DDR4 2400; 1TB SSD, 256GB SSD, 4TB HD

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Maybe, since all he sent was a claim that he has pictures, all you should send would be a claim that you sent money.

Pretending it was me who got the letter for a sec…

Why would I care if anyone has pictures of me doing breathing exercises at the desk?  Was there ever any doubt that I do, in fact, breathe?  I’ll just go ahead and let that one out of the bag now… yes, I have lungs and am, in fact, an air-breathing mammal.

Of course, I have no contacts in social media, as I’ve never used any of them, so it would be interesting to see whom they would send these alleged pictures to. You’d think he’d have noticed there were no social media accounts before sending someone a blackmain letter threatening to send things to them!

(Of course, I know it’s fake.)

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Ascaris: ” Maybe, since all he sent was a claim that he has pictures, all you should send would be a claim that you sent money. ”

If what is behind the overt side of the con: the phone calls or emails, that is to say, its covert side, happened to be the Mafia, wouldn’t it be better not to try to fool around with them, in case it is seen as disrespectful? Just saying.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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It’s a garden variety, badly-written scam spam hiding behind an empty threat.  I think anyone dangerous would have something a little better than that.

There are videos all over Youtube of people messing with scammers.  They deserve what they get– and if someone can waste their time for an hour or two, that’s time others won’t be victimized.  That doesn’t apply here, but these scammers are seriously being disrespected.  There was one ongoing thing where an eBay scammer tried to get someone to part with a Mac and send it overseas by tricking the seller to go through a phony escrow company, and ended up being scammed out of the import duties for a notebook that was actually a notebook, a three-ring binder dressed up to look like a laptop.  It was a whole ongoing thing on a forum somewhere at some point… I read it all years after the fact.  It was hilarious!

Dell XPS 13/9310, i5-1135G7/16GB, KDE Neon 6.2
XPG Xenia 15, i7-9750H/32GB & GTX1660ti, Kubuntu 24.04
Acer Swift Go 14, i5-1335U/16GB, Kubuntu 24.04 (and Win 11)

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Ascaris, It is great that you are able to distinguish, on sight, an empty-threat scam from a really threatening one. Not everybody might be equally adept at this as you are. So my advice stands, for all of us not cluey enough to tell the difference at first sight. This might be a fun topic, but prudence is always dull.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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It doesn’t take any great skill or knowledge to know what this is.  These scams are a dime a dozen, they’re everywhere, and they’re as easy to create as typing in an email. Any kind of real criminal is not going to be blindly emailing people silly threats that are obviously fake like this.  When you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras, particularly when horses are as common as rats in a big city.

You may not want to waste your time dealing with dirtbags, and that certainly is how I deal with these things.  I don’t bother trying to respond back when I get them.  I laugh that someone thought I was that stupid and delete/erase/block the scammer.  I actually meant the post in jest and presumed it would be interpreted as such.

That said, there are thousands of people who bait scammers on purpose, repeatedly, and then post about it on Youtube, and they’ve yet to have anything bad happen after doing a lot worse than what I suggested.  Years later, they’re all still around, posting more scammer baiting videos.  Even more do it just for giggles.  A lot of people make a hobby of it!

If these wannabe criminals had any ability to do anything real, they would have done it instead of such a silly thing like this.  If they had any idea how to contact me personally, they would have attempted to use that to show they’re the real deal, as some bottom-feeding script kiddies who bought compromised (but old) password databases have in the past, to try to prove they’ve actually got something on the person.  This?  This is truly just a random email from some random person who knows nothing about me, and poses no more threat than any other random spam email.

 

Dell XPS 13/9310, i5-1135G7/16GB, KDE Neon 6.2
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Good for you, Ascaris. For my part, I prefer never to risk being one of the few unlucky ones that are not among those thousands of fortunate souls that enjoy baiting their would-be scammers and always get away with it. Besides, I don’t think I would ever consider baiting scammers an interesting enough use of my free time to be tempted into doing it. For me, much more fun is to be had elsewhere. To each his own.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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I’m almost disappointed. Guess my curlers won’t be going viral after all.

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OscarCP, Myst

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Dear TSF: And us and the world will be so much the poorer… Being yours, I am sure they are the most interesting of all possible curlers, and totally viral-worthy.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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The Mafia and most crimes of abuse is not ever about respect, mainly the deep perverse joys gained by control and fear, as is clearly typed out or cut and pasted together as this scam spam example.

They are not after respect, likely a so very select few of these people would only regret during their last moments if at all…

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“Dishonor” and “disrespect” is part of what the Mafia (and just about any such type of syndicate: the Yakuza, Tongs, various ethnic Mobs…) often claims to justify some of its doings. Maybe I should have written “respect” in quotation marks? But what I was getting at was not “honor” or “respect”, but plain and unglamorous “prudence” and the wisdom to observe it before boldly stepping on unknown terrain, unless it’s clear that there is no better option.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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Ah, I understand. Yep, the slowness of Prudence may look dull but it can be very sharp tool.

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I don’t respond or reply to junk/scam mail, which is what this one was.  It was addressed to the email available on my website, easy to pick up but a dead-end from there.  Run a Whois on my website and you’ll get a lot of “REDACTED FOR PRIVACY”.

Email goes to my domain at my web server, no receipt request is honored.  I pick it up from there using Outlook.  All I did with this one was bring it here; it gave me a giggle.

I did file a scam report on the Bitcoin account number.

Always create a fresh drive image before making system changes/Windows updates; you may need to start over!

We all have our own reasons for doing the things that we do with our systems; we don't need anyone's approval, and we don't all have to do the same things.

We were all once "Average Users".

Computer Specs

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Myst

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A wise approach. And by copying the scam email here, you have caused some useful discussion to happen, too.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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Myst

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