“Your Account Was Hacked” falls into the sextortion email scam category. The email threatens to publicly release an explicit video of the email recipient watching pornography unless a payment is made. The contents of the email are completely fake, and users can ignore the email.
Sextortion scam emails have been going around for years. While these campaigns may be operated by different malicious actors, the emails are all more or less the same. The contents may differ slightly and be written differently, but the threats are the same. They all use the same scare tactics as well. And they are all fake.
This “Your Account Was Hacked” email starts with an alarming sentence saying that the recipient’s email account has been hacked. The sender introduces themselves as a “hacker who bust your email and devices and gadgets not so long ago”. The email proceeds to explain that malware was downloaded on the recipient’s computer after they visited an infected adult video website. Supposedly, the installed malware allowed the “hacker” complete access to the user’s computer. This supposedly allowed the user to turn on the webcam/microphone and record the user watching pornography. They also claim to have made a video of the user, with the user on one side and the explicit video they were supposedly watching on the other. They threaten to release the video to all of the user’s contacts unless a payment of $1,000 is made.
This and similar emails are nothing more than generic scams. If you ever receive such an email, you can be sure that malware is not on your computer, nor is there a video of you watching pornography. You can simply ignore the email altogether or just delete it from your inbox.
The full contents of the “Your Account Was Hacked” email are below:
Your account was hacked! Renew the pswd right away!
You probably do not know me me and you may be certainly wanting to know for what reason you’re receiving this message, right?
I’m ahacker who burstyour emailand devices and gadgetsnot so long ago.
Do not attempt to msg me or alternatively try to find me, it is definitely hopeless, because I sent you a letter from YOUR hacked account.
I installed spyware on the adult vids (porno) website and suppose you enjoyed this site to enjoy it (you know what I mean).
During you have been watching content, your browser started out operating as a RDP (Remote Control) that have a keylogger that granted me authority to access your desktop and webcam.
Afterward, my programobtainedall information.
You have typed passcodes on the websites you visited, I caught all of them.
Surely, you could possibly change each of them, or perhaps already modified them.
But it really doesn’t matter, my malware renews it every time.
And what did I do?
I compiled a reserve copy of every your system. Of all files and personal contacts.
I got a dual-screen video recording. The 1st section demonstrates the video you were observing (you’ve got a good preferences, ahah…), the second screen demonstrates the movie from your camera.
What should you do?
Great, in my opinion, 1000 USD is basically a reasonable amount of money for this little riddle. You’ll do the deposit by bitcoins (in case you don’t understand this, go searching “how to purchase bitcoin” in any search engine).
My bitcoin wallet address: –
(It is cAsE sensitive, so just copy and paste it).
Warning:
You will have 48 hours to make the payment. (I built in an unique pixel to this message, and right now I understand that you’ve read through this email).
To tracethe reading of a messageand the actionsin it, I utilizea Facebook pixel. Thanks to them. (Everything thatcan be usedfor the authorities should helpus.)If I fail to get bitcoins, I will immediately offer your videofile to each of your contacts, including family members, colleagues, and so forth?
Why did you receive a sextortion email?
Users who receive sextortion scam emails may wonder why they were targeted. The answer to that is pretty simple. They received the email because their email addresses had been leaked. Whether an email address has been leaked can be checked on haveibeenpwned. Unfortunately, many services have poor security, which makes them more susceptible to cyberattacks. Email addresses are sold on hacker forums for other cybercriminals to purchase and use.
Some sextortion emails also reveal users’ passwords as a scare tactic to pressure users into paying. If users have never encountered a sextortion scam email, they may believe the contents because how would the sender know their passwords if not because of malware on their computers? In reality, passwords are obtained by cybercriminals in the same way as email addresses. Unfortunately, plenty of services store passwords in plain text, which means that if they suffer a cyberattack, passwords can easily be stolen. They are sold on hacker forums for other cybercriminals to buy.
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