Report Extortion Emails

Recently, several friends have received threatening extortion emails.

This apparently is a result of the many recent hacks where personal information has been stolen.

Some of these emails say to pay $7,000.00 to them or they will subscribe you to porn sites and then expose that on the internet.

Others say they have webcam footage of you of an embarrassing nature and will post it publicly. The threats vary. The important point is these are threats and should be reported.

This is not an isolated event. This is happening to a lot of people.

For More Information

Internet Crime Complaint Center

Fraud Aid

From Hoax-Slayer: Bogus Blackmail Scam Email Demands Payment in Bitcoin

From Newsweek: Scammers Are Pretending to Have Webcam Footage of Victims

What To Do If This Happens To You

1. Do not delete the email. If you have the kind of malware/anti-virus software that allows you to quarantine an email, do that instead.

2. If you have clicked on it, do not click anything else in the email. Close it but do not delete.

The government and internet agencies you will forward the email to need it to be as you received it so they can view the headers in it.

3. Immediately change your email password.

4. Report the threatening email to your local police agency. In some states, they refer you to the State Attorney General’s office. All states are aware of these.

5. Report the threatening email to the Federal Trade Commission by forwarding it to:
[email protected]

6. Report the threatening email to the Internet Crime Complaint Center:
https://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx and https://www.ic3.gov/crimeschemes.aspx

Their form is long, but it’s important to do this.

7. When you finish doing these things, immediately change the rest of your passwords and make them complex. Write them down in an address book if you’re afraid you won’t remember. Come up with a password system that you can alter for each place you use a password.

Here’s a great article about how to create a personalized password system.

By the way, in the UK, report these events to: https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/

Takeaway Truth

Being targeted is scary, but, according to a friend who talked to her State Attorney General’s office, you have a lot of company. This thing is rampant. Be sure and file complaints at all of the places I listed and change your passwords regularly.