Hi, your account has been infected!

Before you start to panic because you just received an email saying your account has been hacked, a word of advice… it’s almost certainly a clumsy scam from one of the many scumbags that plague the Web.

How to tell

These emails tend to look the same regardless who sends it to you. The usual nonsense about “don’t try to find out who I am” and “I sent this address from your own email account” (no you didn’t), often you can trace the originating email address, I will come to that shortly.

Then there is the crap about “you have been viewing porn”, whether you do or don’t is probably not important this time, though I would recommend caution if you do. That all your contacts will be told about it if you don’t surrender to blackmail.

Then there is the Bitcoin link… just don’t!

 

These emails, what do they look like?

Don’t expect too much, it will usually be full of errors. Especially where words run into each other after copying and pasting it from elsewhere lost some of the formatting. Often the language will be rather childlike, suggesting it was from somewhere that normally uses another language.

Hi, your account has been infected!

Renew your pswd right this moment! You do not know anything about me and you obviously are probably surprised for what reason you’re receiving this electronic message, is it right? I’mhacker who crackedyour emailand systemtwo months ago. Do not waste your time and try out to contact me or find me, it is hopeless, considering that I forwarded you a letter using YOUR hacked account. I’ve created malware software to the adult videos (porno) site and guess that you have enjoyed this website to enjoy it (you realize what I want to say). During you have been taking a look at video clips, your browser began functioning as a RDP (Remote Control) that have a keylogger which provided me permission to access your monitor and web camera_
Then, my programobtainedall data You entered passcodes on the web-sites you visited, and I sniffed them. Needless to say, you can modify them, or perhaps already changed them. Even so it does not matter, my malware renews information every time. What actually did I do? I compiled a backup of every your device. Of each file and personal contacts. I formed a dual-screen video recording. The 1st screen reveals the film that you were watching (you have got a good taste, wow…), and the second screen presents the video from your own web camera_ What exactly should you do? Good, I think, 1000 USD is basically a reasonable amount of money for our little riddle. You’ll make the deposit by bitcoins (if you don’t recognize this, try to find “how to buy bitcoin” in any search engine My bitcoin wallet address:
14yxxFNhc3okafwmQDWZFY1jQZkW4j2tbu
(It is cAsE sensitive, so copy and paste it). Warning You have only 2 days to send the payment. (I put an unique pixel in this e-mail, and at the moment I understand that you’ve read this email). To tracicthe reading of a messageand the activityinside it, I installeda Facebook pixel. Thanks to them. (Everything that’s appliedfor the authorities may helpus.) In case I fail to get bitcoins, I will undoubtedly give your videofile to all your contacts, such as relatives, colleagues, etcetera?

The Real Origin

Discovering the real origin of the email is usually just a matter of examining the header information. Mail programs may have differing methods of obtaining this, so you will have to do a little research. The Technipages website has a useful tutorial for Outlook users at (https://www.technipages.com/outlook-2016-view-message-headers)

That will very likely show your email address is just being spoofed. That said, the real originating email account may well be hacked and may be being used as a zombie account.

It is worth notifying any relevant authorities and sending a warning message to the originating address suggesting the account may have been compromised and that “authorities have been notified of this attempted fraud”.

Good Luck!