Bitcoin hoax?

SAFEdummie

So if anyone could help a not-so-techhie... I got an extortion e-mail requiring 500 USD worth of bitcoins saying that they have hacked my e-mail account and that they have used my webcam and have used a trojan to monitor my browsing for quite a while. I've read about these things but still feel kinda iffy about this. So far the only thing they gave me as "proof" was that they sent the e-mail from my own address, but looking at the headers it's originally from z3.hck7.pro instead of anything even remotely related to my organisation. So should I be worried that they actually have any sensitive data on me? SAFE hasn't ofund anything in a full system scan.

 

Now the thing that worries me is that I had to change my e-mail and thus couldn't use SAFE for a few days last summer before activating my new subscription.

 

Googling the bitcoin wallet number shows dozens of reports lately on bitcoinabuse.com of similar e-mails sent.

 

Any help would be appreciated!

Simon

I think you'll find it's a scam.  There's lots going around, not necessarily the same as yours, but this may help:

 

https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/340295/received-an-email-saying-someone-has-hacked-my-email-account

 

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/t/685419/family-member-received-suspicious-email-from-themself/

SAFEdummie

The message in the latter  link is nearly identical to the one I got, mine was just written in better English. But still, I’ve learned a lot about e-mail headers etc. today, also no tracking cookie was present in the message source although it said so on the text...

 

Seems like my institution’s spam filters are working since I practically never receive these in my inbox!

nanonyme

Hey, 

I'd ignore it and report to email provider as phishing. If the mail mentions a password you're using, change it asap 

Jaims

Hi @SAFEdummie

 

This is a common hoax at the moment and you must have clicked on a malicious link or downloaded a malicious file from a spam email you once received. So, your email might have sent random mails to your contacts as well. 

 

Simply perform some clean-up by;

- clearing your browsing history,

- delete cookies and caches, maybe reset your browsers too, 

- change your email password

-  and most importantly, avoid clicking on links and downloading files from even sources that you know without diligent confirmation from the sender(s). 

 

Once done, ensure you run a virus scan. Stay safe!