A Woman's Computer Compromised by Extortion Scam

A woman recently reached out to me because of the computer work I do on the side. She presented a situation in which she nearly got the police involved due to an email she received from someone claiming to know her password and having compromising images and video of her from visiting illicit websites. The email detailed that they knew her password, had key loggers and remote protocol software installed on her computer, and threatened to publish the compromising images and video to all her contacts and emails if she didn't pay a Bitcoin ransom.

The situation boiled down to one word: extortion. These people who emailed her claimed to know her password, have compromising images and video of her, and threatened to publish it unless she paid cryptocurrency sent to a publicly available Bitcoin address. However, the email was baseless, as many people are aware of gigantic data leaks that have made their way into the mass media, such as the Target and Walmart database breaches.

The woman had used an old password on her computer, which was a Core 2 Duo based system used only for browsing the Internet. She panicked when she received the email and nearly got the police involved. However, she was smarter than your average person in that she didn't pay the Bitcoin ransom and waited for the time period given by the scammers to release everything. This proved that it was a basis extortion attempt.

To ensure her computer was completely safe, the woman requested that it be wiped and reinstalled with a new operating system after backing up her files. I took care of this for her, as part of my work as a computer technician, and made sure there were no issues with the computer. Wiping the computer in this manner would give her peace of mind and ensure she had nothing to worry about going forward.

As a computer technician, it's part of my job to educate clients on how these situations can happen and to settle their nerves. I explained to the woman that the email was likely a scam and that most people who have fallen for this scam have gotten the police involved. However, she didn't get the police involved, and she didn't pay the Bitcoin ransom.

In conclusion, the situation with the woman's computer was a clear case of extortion. The scammers claimed to know her password, had compromising images and video of her, and threatened to publish it unless she paid a Bitcoin ransom. However, this was all just a scam, and most people who have fallen for these scams have gotten the police involved or paid the ransom.

The Internet can be a big place with many dark corners, and practicing safe browsing habits is especially important. Making sure that you constantly keep your passwords and accounts up-to-date will also help prevent situations like this from happening to you. As someone who sells on Craigslist frequently and has worked as a bank teller in the past, I see these types of scams often. However, they can be easy to spot, but not always for everyone.

The key to avoiding these scams is to do some research using the wordage in the email or communication, as many people have already reported similar situations. Running malware scans if everything comes out clean will also help ensure that you're good to go. The Internet may seem like a big and scary place, but with safe browsing habits and up-to-date passwords and accounts, you can avoid situations like this.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: ena woman received an email from a person who claimed to know her password as well as have compromising images and video of them from visiting illicit websites this is what happened with her computer ss is a woman who was put into contact with me because of the computer work that I do on the side she presented to me a situation in which she nearly got the police involved however her computer was also compromised and she wanted that addressed the bigger issue at play here is that the computer was not compromised and that the entire situation was brought on for reasons outside of her control so when SS brought me her computer which was a Core 2 Duo based system that was used just for browsing the Internet I was a little wary when I found no major issues with it in terms of malware infections keyloggers or anything like that the email that she received detailed that they knew her password that they had compromising images and video of her thanks to key loggers and remote protocol stuff like that which was supposedly put in place on her computer from her visiting illicit websites the situation boiled down to this and it comes down to one word and that word is extortion these people who emailed her who claimed to know her password who claimed to have these images and video of her that they threatened to publish to all her contacts and every email and everything that she knows and possibly get her in trouble with her work and everything demanded cryptocurrency set sent to a cryptocurrency address they wanted Bitcoin as many of you may or may not know bitcoin is a crypto currency it is the most popular cryptocurrency and one of the major themes of cryptocurrency is that it is not particularly trackable the cryptocurrency addressed in the email is a publicly available one that only the account owner can pull that currency out of and convert it or send it to another cryptocurrency address possibly to continue more malicious attacks however in this case the extortion is baseless here is happened sometimes gigantic data leaks make it into the mass media and probably you guys watching this video right now are aware of much more database leaks than the average person everybody knows about what happened with target and what happened with the Walmart and possibly would even happen with nuoc accounts passwords usernames emails were leaked and what happens with those leaked databases is they make their way through the internet once they're on the Internet people can access those databases and those databases can have information that you may no longer even be using it can have an old password and that's what is key in this extortion scam this extortion scam has been growing in popularity and it more than likely there are many variants of it that have already happened and many variants of it coming soon still because people are going to continue doing this kind of thing so when SS received this email claiming that they had her password in an indeed was an old password that she had used she panicked she got to the point where she nearly got the police involved and many people that I've heard of that have fallen for this scam have gotten the police involved SS was just a bit smarter than your average person though because she didn't get the police involved but more importantly she didn't pay the Bitcoin ransom she waited the time period that the scammers in the email said that they would release everything and nothing happened this proved that it was a basis extortion attempt but she wanted her computer looked at to be completely safe and who can blame her with all that said she requested that the computer be wiped and I went ahead and took care of a for her reinstalled her operating system after backing up her files and everything was good to go there were initially no issues with the computer however wiping it the way she wanted to would be peace of mind and she would have nothing to worry about going forward just as well part of what we do as computer technicians is educate the client so I explained it for the situation as to how this could have happened and settled her nerves when it came to that everything turned out okay ss is back up and running and case closed so what's the lesson here you might be asking if you receive an email or any type of communication that seems like it's a scam it's an extortionist demanding money especially if they're demanding cryptocurrency it is more than likely just that a scam go to Google do a little bit of research using some of the wordage in the email and you'll see many people aren't experiencing this same thing it must have been already reported more than likely and more than likely you will have to worry about nothing when it comes to this run your malware scans if everything comes out clean you're good to go the Internet is a big place with a lot of dark corners practicing safe browsing habits is especially important and making sure that you constantly keep your passwords and accounts up-to-date you're constantly aware of where you're going to avoid any situations like this and you're not particularly involved in any shady situations will help prevent this kind of scam from working on you as someone who sells on Craigslist a lot and let go and offer up and such like that for all the use part stuff that we do I see my fair share of these things as well as having work as a bank teller in the past and especially being a computer technician for all these years I see these most of the time they're easy to point out but they're not always so easy to point out for everyone I hope you guys found this video educational informative or otherwise useful to you and anyone you may know this is Chris with coalition gaming and we'll see you in the next video bye\n"