I’ve written about spam emails and what to do when you receive them. I usually write about other people, but yesterday I received an email to my main Google Mail account that is a textbook example of a mass extortion email message.
The body of the email was simply my name and home address, so it got my attention.
Attached to the email was a PDF that is a letter addressing me by name and again mentioning my home address and they included a photo of my street from Google maps.
The person who sent the email says they “placed a Malware” on a porn website and now they have initiated remote control of my smartphone, including the ability to turn on the camera and microphone remotely, oh, and now they also have access to all my emails, contacts and social media accounts.
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They provided a Bitcoin address for me to send them $1,950 by the next day or they’d send all my contacts a video they’d recorded of me that I’d probably like to keep private.
My favorite part is where they say, “Once you pay up, you’ll sleep like a baby. I keep my word.”
This message came from a Gmail account in the name of a woman I don’t know. The letter says I shouldn’t think about replying to the message or trying to negotiate. Once I send the Bitcoin, they’ve set up a system to automatically erase all the compromising data they have on me.
So, what’s my next move? Reporting this to authorities is prudent, but won’t amount to much. I did report the message to reportfraud.ftc.gov, which is the site to report attempted fraud to the Federal Trade Commission.
The email address is certainly not real and there is no identifying information in the message besides the Bitcoin link.
Am I worried? Nope.
I’m quite sure this fraudster downloaded my name and address from one of the numerous data breaches of the last few years. They have set up an automated process to set up emails with the names and addresses and even have the street view snapshot from Google Maps inserted.
I wonder how many people got a similar email yesterday and I really wonder how many are really worried today and are considering a payment.
If they really had incriminating photos or videos of me, they’d include an example in their extortion message. All they have is a name and an address. I know enough to realize that they can’t jump in and control my phone and access all my accounts as they stated.
The message I want you to take away from this column is to ignore these messages completely. Report them and move on.
I’m disappointed Google didn’t filter out the message as spam.
It has been more than a day since the “deadline” they warned me about and nobody I know has contacted me yet to tell me what terrible things I’ve done.
I’ll follow up if I hear anything further.
Jim Rossman is a tech columnist for Tribune News Service. He may be reached at jrossmantechadviser@gmail.com.
