HACKER Q&A
📣 gchamonlive

What is up with all the sextortion emails?


I received two emails with actual, although old passwords claiming to have been extracted from porn websites with malware and, in doing so, the scammer claimed to have recorded me doing "dirty stuff" in split screen, asking for 1800 dollars in a bitcoin wallet.

I was talking to coworkers and many have claimed to have received these emails as well.

We were all cool with it, but I can see people actually freaking out about it.

It has been covered on krebsonsecurity in 2018, but these seem to have resurfaced: https://krebsonsecurity.com/2018/07/sextortion-scam-uses-recipients-hacked-passwords/

Has anybody received those emails recently? What can we do to protect those close to us against these attacks?

  👤 gardenfelder Accepted Answer ✓
Sure. Google the opening claim to find a website where ppl are registering them, and notice another hit where it's debunked. Try this: study the message's source and google the IP address. Mine originated in Mexico.