What is the “I sent you an email from your account” sextortion email

“I sent you an email from your account” email is part of a malicious email campaign that threatens users and tries to force them to pay hundreds of dollars. It’s a classic example of a sextortion campaign, a type of spam email that threatens to release users’ private videos. However, it’s nothing more than a scam.

 

 

Users have been receiving sextortion spam emails for years. They all more or less follow the same pattern with only the text differing depending on which scammer group is operating the spam email campaign.

The “I sent you an email from your account” email will have an eye-catching subject line like “You password must be need changed”. This is meant to catch the recipient’s attention and pressure them into opening the email. When users open this email, they are greeted with a long text written in broken English.

The email starts with an alarming sentence saying “I sent you an email from your account”, followed by a password reveal. The password is usually one that users have used in the past for some account that’s associated with the recipient’s email address. However, even if the password is old, it’s often enough to alarm users to read the entire email.

The sender claims that they were able to hack the recipient’s computer after they visited an adult site. Supposedly, some malware was downloaded onto the recipient’s computer which gave the hacker complete access to it. This supposedly allowed them to watch what the user was doing, turn on the camera and microphone, as well as steal all contacts. The sender then claims they made a video of the recipient watching pornography and threatens to send it to all contacts unless a payment is made.

The requested sum is $780 in this case but it varies depending on the email. It goes without saying that there’s no need to pay anything. This email and all others like it are scams. There is no video and users’ computers have not been hacked.

Subject: You password must be need changed

Hello!

As you may have noticed, I sent you an email from your account.
This means that I have full access to your account: On moment of hack your account has password: –

You say: this is the old password!
Or: I will change my password at any time!

Yes! You’re right!
But the fact is that when you change the password, my trojan always saves a new one!

I’ve been watching you for a few months now.
The fact is that you were infected with malware through an adult site that you visited.

If you are not familiar with this, I will explain.
Trojan Virus gives me full access and control over a computer or other device.
This means that I can see everything on your screen, turn on the camera and microphone, but you do not know about it.

I also have access to all your contacts and all your correspondence.

Why your antivirus did not detect malware?
Answer: My malware uses the driver, I update its signatures every 4 hours so that your antivirus is silent.

I made a video showing how you satisfy yourself in the left half of the screen, and in the right half you see the video that you watched.
With one click of the mouse, I can send this video to all your emails and contacts on social networks. I can also post access to all your e-mail correspondence and messengers that you use.

If you want to prevent this, transfer the amount of $780 to my bitcoin address (if you do not know how to do this, write to Google: Buy Bitcoin).

My bitcoin addresses (BTC Wallets) are: –

After receiving the payment, I will delete the video and you will never hear me again.
I give you 48 hours to pay.
I have a notice reading this letter, and the timer will work when you see this letter.

Filing a complaint somewhere does not make sense because this email cannot be tracked like my bitcoin address.
I do not make any mistakes.

If I find that you have shared this message with someone else, the video will be immediately distributed.

Best wishes!

Senders of these sextortion scams use various tactics to convince users to make the payment. One common tactic is to mock users’ supposed pornography preferences. By using mocking language, the scammer pressures the recipient into reacting.

Sextortion emails often reveal passwords

Sextortion emails often reveal users’ passwords as a tactic to convince users that the email is legitimate. Because in users’ minds, how else would the sender know the password if not because they hacked the computer? However, the answer to how scammers obtain passwords is quite simple.

Passwords, along with email addresses, end up on hacker forums after services get hacked and data is stolen. If a service does not have good security measures, it may store passwords in plaintext, so when it’s hacked, malicious actors get the password. Other cybercriminals buy these passwords from hacker forums to use in their malicious activities like this “I sent you an email from your account” sextortion scam. Users can check whether their email addresses and/or passwords have been leaked on haveibeenpwned.

Users whose passwords are revealed in sextortion emails need to change their passwords immediately. Passwords should never be reused more than once. Otherwise, if one password is leaked, it could later be used to access other accounts.