The CW Corner – Email Extortions

With 20+ years in the web business, scams and schemes to steal from people still amaze me.

Several web clients have made me aware of a scam to frighten them into making a bitcoin payment.

They’re from addresses like “Anonymous Hacker” or even your own email. Subjects are “You have been hacked” or similar. They gloat they’ve infected you through some (usually unsavory) site you visited. They explain how they did it in terms most folks don’t understand – making you think they are really an expert – and frighten you into believing they’re monitoring your computer.

They threaten to send very personal items and even videos of you to everyone you know unless you comply with the demand within some short time period. They warn if you report them, they’ll distribute the “dirt” on you immediately.

We try to force these messages to spam on our servers. Sometimes they get through. We reassure several people each week they are a scam because they usually are.

However, devices DO get hacked. If you truly believe you’ve been hacked, you should see your IT person or someone who specializes in “cleaning” computers ASAP. We can recommend folks who can help.