Bitcoin Extortion Email Scam Alert

Following our previous encounter with the Hi Perv Email Scam, we came across another similar bitcoin extortion email scam.

This scam seems to be more successful for the hacker than other previous scams, which we will discuss in detail further below.

Let’s first take a look at a sample of such an email, copies and pasted verbatim below with all spelling and grammatical errors as found in the actual email:

Bitcoin Extortion Email Scam Sample

From: gilavbeyf@ppdylsyg.com
Subject: your username : your password
To: your password

xxxxxxxx is one of your pass words. Lets get straight to purpose. Nobody has paid me to check about you. You may not know me and you are probably wondering why you are getting this e-mail?

Actually, i installed a software on the X vids (porn material) web-site and you know what, you visited this web site to have fun (you know what i mean). While you were viewing videos, your web browser initiated functioning as a Remote control Desktop with a key logger which provided me with access to your screen and also webcam. Just after that, my software program collected your entire contacts from your Messenger, Facebook, as well as e-mail . after that i made a double-screen video. First part displays the video you were watching (you’ve got a fine taste hahah), and 2nd part displays the recording of your web camera, yea its you.

You do have only 2 solutions. We should review these solutions in particulars:

First option is to just ignore this message. in this scenario, i am going to send out your very own video clip to each one of your contacts and thus consider concerning the awkwardness you will definitely get. in addition if you happen to be in an intimate relationship, exactly how it will certainly affect?

Other choice will be to pay me USD 897. i will describe it as a donation. in this situation, i most certainly will straight away discard your video recording. You can go on with your life like this never happened and you would never hear back again from me.

You’ll make the payment by Bi‌tco‌in (if you do not know this, search ‘how to buy b‌itcoi‌n’ in Google).

B‌T‌C‌ ad‌dre‌ss: 1EJcaYXy5AHuqPDSSSZ8rWiPXD5vsyfoAS

[CaSe SeNSiTiVe, copy and paste it]

In case you are wondering about going to the police, well, this mail can not be traced back to me. I have covered my moves. i am not attempting to charge a fee much, i only want to be paid. unique if i do not get the ‌bi‌tco‌in‌, i will definitely send out your video to all of your contacts including friends and family, coworkers, and so forth. However, if i receive the payment, i’ll erase the recording right away. If you need proof, reply with Yeah! then i will certainly send out your video to your 9 contacts. This is the nonnegotiable offer and thus please do not waste my personal time & yours by replying to this mail.

How Should You Respond?

There isn’t really anything you need to do, really. Whatever it is, do not even entertain the idea of making the ransom payment.

At this point, it is best to just ignore and delete the email. It is also pointless to reply to the email as the email address of the sender seems to be scrambled and non-existent.

There are two giveaway signs that the claims in the email are fake in this particular case above.

In the case above, the password revealed by the scammer is false, as the password given by the scammer is an old one that had been changed a few years ago. It is likely the scammer had managed to obtain a list of hacked email accounts with their corresponding passwords.

If you have not changed your email address password recently, you may be tricked into believing that they actually have your current password, which incidentally happens to be true if you’re still using the same password. It is best you change it immediately.

The second giveaway sign has to do with surfing porn and the recipient of the email above has never visited X vids website. This is also covered in the Hi Perv Email Scam article, which you can read here.

Checking the Transactions to this Bitcoin Wallet Address on Blockchain.com

Compared to the other Hi Perv Email Scam we covered previously (which at time of writing, the address has not received a single ransom payment), the bitcoin wallet address as given in this scam seems to have successfully managed to receive multiple ransom payments from more than a few victims.

Keying the BTC address 1EJcaYXy5AHuqPDSSSZ8rWiPXD5vsyfoAS into Blockchain.com and performing a search, the result is shown in the following screenshots:

bitcoin extortion email scam — The scammer’s BTC address shows that the total amount received todate is $5,482.52. A total of 18 transactions was recorded, consisting of ransom payments made to the address, and amount sent out to different addresses. We can assume the final balance of $949.24 shown is a recent ransom payment received from this scam, dated on 5th February 2019 as given in the first item in the Transaction list.

You can easily see how scammers laugh their way to the banks when victims are conned into believing the scam is real and fall into the trap of making the ransom payments.

Bitcoin Abuse Database

For this particular BTC address, you may also check the reports submitted by others who had received a similar email, as given at the Bitcoin Abuse Database website.

A screenshot of the first page is shown below.

Conclusion

It seems that bitcoin extortion email scam is becoming more rampant these days, usually revolving around password hacks or a video record of you supposedly doing something embarrassing.

Please be aware that in these cases, they are usually fake. A scammer would likely send you a short video clip of evidence to urge you to pay the ransom. In the absence of such evidence, it is very likely the claims in the email are fake, and should thus be simply ignored.