Just received blackmail/scam attempt email. Wat do?

[Resistance]

Many ways they can get an email address and your personal info but it looks like this person is fishing

 

[jpaul]

The password is an old one, certainly one I never used with this email account but an old email address that shares the same format (first name last name @whatever.com) has received a lot of these scams and is showing as being in a data breach. Do you think they are just trying the same first bit of the address with other domains to see if they get lucky?

if an old email account was compromised, presumably any emails (EDIT and their address book) could have been harvested to gather other email addresses ... and if you forward from one of your email accounts to another (I do) that will not help.
stll like the qoute "Assume they got our phones, assume they got our houses, assume they got us, right here, right now as we sit"

I'm curious about where he says about the specific pixel within the email to notify him I've read it. BS?

I never enable javascipt on emails (in thunderbird I use) otherwise, like a browser (without extensions), it becomes another environment where your system can be compromised - who cares about some of the advertising emails

 

[stockhausen]

You mean like this email?
This was in my SPAM bin and was sent on the 12/07/2018...my life hasn't been ruined up to now

Hi, viсtim.

etc., etc., etc​

I've had loads of them! Just a load of whatsit! Ignore them!

Some days ago I started an OcUK thread based on this very topic HERE.

In order to put the victim's mind at rest that she had been targeted by a common blackmail attempt I copied and pasted LittleJoe's post to her in an email. The email got bounced by Spamhaus.

In order to check that her email address wasn't being spoofed and consequently blacklisted I then sent her another email with the Subject "TEST" and the content "This is a test" - that got through so I can only speculate that Spamhaus detected features in the email text that identified it as a blackmail scam.

The email sent to her was very similar to (but not exactly the same as) LittleJoe's sample email.

 

[jpaul]

In order to put the victim's mind at rest that she had been targeted by a common blackmail attempt I copied and pasted LittleJoe's post to her in an email. The email got bounced by Spamhaus.

But as this thread had remarked (you read it all ?)- underlying the blackmail thread, the recipients account had been compromised, and that may need some actions on their part eg 2fa. .. so the victim should not be unconcerned/at-rest.

 

[Puzzled]

if an old email account was compromised, presumably any emails (EDIT and their address book) could have been harvested to gather other email addresses ... and if you forward from one of your email accounts to another (I do) that will not help.
stll like the qoute "Assume they got our phones, assume they got our houses, assume they got us, right here, right now as we sit"

As far as I'm aware the email account hasn't been accessed, no sign of activity. The password was a common one I used for unimportant things so no worries there but the email address isn't showing any issues on haveibeenpwned.com.

Anyway all passwords changed and 2FA enabled on additional sites which have added it as an option since I last checked.

 

[jpaul]

I had thought the yahoo breech 2013 was before they had tech to tell you about unauthorised/attempted access .... at least for gmail they only seemed to start telling me in the last couple of years.

 

[stockhausen]

But as this thread had remarked (you read it all ?)- underlying the blackmail thread, the recipients account had been compromised . . .

What is the relevance of the email account having been compromised?
Change password to something marginally better than pa55w0rd & move on.
OK, substantially better than pa55w0rd.

 

[jpaul]

What is the relevance of the email account having been compromised?
... move on.

lol a password change is not necessarily all you need to do .. the process has already been linked but, again,
read something like this https://forums.yahoo.net/t5/Account-security/Hacked-contacts-and-inbox-stolen/td-p/507209

Changing your password is only the first step in securing a compromised account. The next articles shows other things you can do.
......

 

[pastymuncher]

I got one of these today on my Hotmail account. I believe it's something to do with when Blizzard got their database hacked a few years ago. My email stated the password I used to use before the Blizzard hack but changed it as soon as they told me they had been hacked. It's also been changed a couple of times since plus had 2FA added as well. I blocked the address and deleted the message.

 

[andy_taximan]

Getting the same here (on hotmail) , as long as 2fa is on then shouldn`t be a problem.

 

[Disco_P]

I got one of these too - a password I used for nearly everything unimportant. There were a couple sites that I really shoulda used something more secure.

Trying to identify the breach were it was extracted. From Have I Been Pwned, I think it was imgur where it came from.

 

[Hagar]

I have just started 2FA on Godaddy.com, where my domain is hosted, just for another layer of security. I do not recognise any of the breaches on have I been pwned, only 4 ever and the latest in August 2017. Like many, I don't have any built in webcams so videos are not possible. I just blocked the sender and junked the email, changing the password on the email account.

 

[jpaul]

I do not recognise any of the breaches on have I been pwned, only 4 ever and the latest in August 2017

so you do not use any of the 4 web-sites listed ?
Ivebeenpawned seemed reliable to me, not giving sites I have not used.

 

[Nickolp1974]

I had one of these today, they gave a password I use quite a bit but it's not for my email acc. They also sent the email from my own hotmail acc. I'm on a tablet(sammy). Do I just delete and change passwords?