[Edit: The reason I posted this email here verbatim, is for public education. A lot of people get very shocked when they receive such an email. They panic on seeing their actual password exposed, and assume that the rest of the contents of the email are true. In my case, I know the assertions in the email are false, because the camera in any laptop I use is physically blocked with tape.]
Here is an actual email that made it to my inbox today. I have โ'ed out the password because it was real. However, the password is from way back when. I regularly rotate my passwords so I know I haven't used this one in a while.
I use a password generator to create unique passwords for each site, periodically rotate my passwords, scan my passwords any time a major site is compromised, and never share passwords in plain text. But it isn't enough for just me to do it. If everyone practices online safety, the Internet is safer for everybody, and phishers go out of business.
The easiest way to do all this is to choose a password manager and use it on all your devices: https://www.google.com/search?q=password+manager
The email I got:
Tr๐nsf๐๐ $1000 in bitcoin to the listed b๐low addres๐:
bc1***q5ut7a25ackpmvqdfhw8k77p9cq5duqxhpz4y45
๐as๐-SENSITIV๐ด, c๐๐y a๐๐ ๐aste , and t๐ke ๐wa๐ข *** fro๐ this
๐ธou m๐บ๐ ๐๐พ๐ l be as๐๐n๐ yo๐r๐el๐ฟ ๐hy the hell would ๐o๐ d๐ t๐at? ๐ถ๐พl๐ , put togethe๐ y๐urse๐ f due to the f๐บct I am ๐oi๐g ๐o m๐v๐พ your wor๐ d n๐w. I had a threaten๐ng a๐ฝware ๐๐f๐พct y๐ur laptop or com๐u๐er and r๐พ๐ผo๐d movie of YOU (u๐ing you๐ ๐ebcam) ๐h๐ls๐ ๐ou looke๐ฝ at 'adult' w๐พbs๐tes.
Th๐s is one o๐ฟ you๐ pass word โโโโโโโโ
๐๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฆ? ๐๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ญ๐บ 7 ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ญ๐บ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ท๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฐ ๐ค๐ญ๐ช๐ฑ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ 7 ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐จ๐ฏ๐ช๐ป๐ฆ (๐ ๐ฆ๐ด, ๐'๐ท๐ฆ ๐ข๐ค๐ค๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ข๐ค๐ต ๐ญ๐ช๐ด๐ต ๐ข๐ด ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ).
At this point, what do I want to ๐ake this entire thin๐ dis๐p๐ear? Very w๐๐l, I hav๐ alread๐ m๐๐ti๐ne๐ t๐e de๐l in sta๐ting of the ๐ess๐ge. S๐ould you n๐t ful๐ill it within 24 hours, ๐ด most c๐rtainly w๐ll make your lif๐ hor๐ib๐e ๐y s๐n๐ing tha๐ v๐deo to ๐ฐ๐e๐ybody you kn๐w. You๐ time frame b๐๐ins right now.
Here is an actual email that made it to my inbox today. I have โ'ed out the password because it was real. However, the password is from way back when. I regularly rotate my passwords so I know I haven't used this one in a while.
I use a password generator to create unique passwords for each site, periodically rotate my passwords, scan my passwords any time a major site is compromised, and never share passwords in plain text. But it isn't enough for just me to do it. If everyone practices online safety, the Internet is safer for everybody, and phishers go out of business.
The easiest way to do all this is to choose a password manager and use it on all your devices: https://www.google.com/search?q=password+manager
The email I got:
Tr๐nsf๐๐ $1000 in bitcoin to the listed b๐low addres๐:
bc1***q5ut7a25ackpmvqdfhw8k77p9cq5duqxhpz4y45
๐as๐-SENSITIV๐ด, c๐๐y a๐๐ ๐aste , and t๐ke ๐wa๐ข *** fro๐ this
๐ธou m๐บ๐ ๐๐พ๐ l be as๐๐n๐ yo๐r๐el๐ฟ ๐hy the hell would ๐o๐ d๐ t๐at? ๐ถ๐พl๐ , put togethe๐ y๐urse๐ f due to the f๐บct I am ๐oi๐g ๐o m๐v๐พ your wor๐ d n๐w. I had a threaten๐ng a๐ฝware ๐๐f๐พct y๐ur laptop or com๐u๐er and r๐พ๐ผo๐d movie of YOU (u๐ing you๐ ๐ebcam) ๐h๐ls๐ ๐ou looke๐ฝ at 'adult' w๐พbs๐tes.
Th๐s is one o๐ฟ you๐ pass word โโโโโโโโ
๐๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฆ? ๐๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ญ๐บ 7 ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ญ๐บ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ท๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฐ ๐ค๐ญ๐ช๐ฑ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ 7 ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐จ๐ฏ๐ช๐ป๐ฆ (๐ ๐ฆ๐ด, ๐'๐ท๐ฆ ๐ข๐ค๐ค๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ข๐ค๐ต ๐ญ๐ช๐ด๐ต ๐ข๐ด ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ).
At this point, what do I want to ๐ake this entire thin๐ dis๐p๐ear? Very w๐๐l, I hav๐ alread๐ m๐๐ti๐ne๐ t๐e de๐l in sta๐ting of the ๐ess๐ge. S๐ould you n๐t ful๐ill it within 24 hours, ๐ด most c๐rtainly w๐ll make your lif๐ hor๐ib๐e ๐y s๐n๐ing tha๐ v๐deo to ๐ฐ๐e๐ybody you kn๐w. You๐ time frame b๐๐ins right now.