What. Is. This.
Those were the only three words I could form after I clicked on the email. I remember feeling dizzy as I read the message:
"We know what you’ve been doing. Unless you pay us $8,000 in Bitcoin, we’ll tell your wife about your affair. Don’t believe us? We’ve been recording all of your nasty interactions with the other woman, including the ones you thought were safe. You know - the ones using your webcam? Ha!
"Think we don’t know what we’re doing? Need proof? The password to your SmileBook account is FastCar123. We know more about you than you think.
"Meet our demands and we’ll destroy the evidence. If not, we send everything to your wife and all of your social media contacts."
The email then provided detailed instructions on how to send them the money within 48 hours, or else.
I’m not gonna lie. I was scared, but not for the reason you think. I hadn’t cheated on my wife, but they were right about the password to my SmileBook account. All of my business contacts, family, friends, and even my mom is connected to that account. What would these crooks send if I didn’t pay them off?
The next day at work, all I could do was think about that threatening email. I tried to dismiss it as just one of those phishing scams you hear about. But, my password? How could they possibly know that? This email was too hard to shake.
My phone chirped, alerting me of a new email. It was from the same sender as the previous email.
"Don’t think we’re going away. You’re running out of time. You pay, or we share it all."
I was completely freaked out. I did the only thing I could think to do at that moment. I walked straight into Jerry’s office. Jerry is my firm’s IT Director and pretty much a tech genius. I wasn’t sure if he stayed up to date on blackmail schemes, but it was worth a shot.
After showing him the emails, he leaned back in his chair, completely relaxed and non-frazzled.
“Okay, what should I do?”
“Nothing,” he said.
“Are you kidding me?” I almost yelled.
“Calm down, calm down. Let me tell you what’s really going on here. It’s called the bitcoin extortion scam.”
After leaving Jerry’s office, I breathed a sigh of relief. As it turns out, bitcoin extortion attempts are on the rise. The cryptocurrency industry makes it easy to conduct transactions quickly and anonymously, which is precisely what crooks need to run a successful scam. Here’s what else I learned from Jerry:
- There are several variations of this scam. Some emails will claim that the extortionist has been recording the intended victim via their webcam and has proof they’ve been visiting adult websites. Others will threaten to wipe data from the victim’s computer. Worse yet, emails have been known to threaten workplace violence.
- These criminals like to target individuals with status positions, e.g., college professors, corporate management, community leaders, etc., but anyone can be a potential victim. Individuals that hold status positions at work or in the community are expected to have more to lose if the “truth” is exposed.
- Crooks who have access to data dumps from online data breaches can obtain passwords compromised during the breach. They use that data to scare victims and convince them that they have inside information and mean business.
***************
Here’s what you should do if you receive a bitcoin extortion email:
- Avoid opening emails with subject lines of “Account Compromised” or other spammy titles. These emails can land in your email in-box despite some of the best spam filters.
- Do not respond to the email.
- Do not pay the ransom.
- Contact the local authorities to report the incident.
- File a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission.
- Report the scam to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
- Check to see if your email address has been exposed in an online data breach. An online database, Have I Been Pwned, can help determine if your personal information has been compromised. After entering your email address, a list of breached websites associated with that address will appear. Visit each website and change your passwords immediately.
