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Author: Admin | 2025-04-28
The inclusion of one of your passwords from a breached database may make the threat seem personal, but it isn't. They've just hoovered up your email address and password from a database. Criminals send large numbers of these emails (and even some physical letters,) hoping that just 1% of people will respond and pay up. This is just like spam emails or tech support scammer phone calls. The criminals know most people won't fall for their tricks, and they'll quickly move on to find an easier mark if you aren't falling for the scam. Do not negotiate with the criminals, and definitely don't pay anything. If you receive an email threat like this---especially if it's an assassination threat!---you might want to report it to the police. You should definitely report any threats sent as physical mail, too. It's easier to catch criminals abusing the mail system than simply sending out emails. The US Postal Inspection Service doesn't mess around. Here's an example of CryptoBlackmail: Why Scammers Want Cryptocurrency This type of scam has a lot in common with ransomware like CryptoLocker. Like ransomware, CryptoBlackmail makes a threat and demands payment to a cryptocurrency address. But, while ransomware actually holds your files hostage after compromising your computer, CryptoBlackmail is all empty threats. CryptoBlackmail requests payment in cryptocurrency for the same reason ransomware does. It's not possible to "undo" a transaction, and it's hard for the authorities to track down the owner of a Bitcoin address. If the criminals requested you send money via a bank wire, that wire could be traced and the authorities could try to find the person who opened the bank account and maybe even get the money back. However, with cryptocurrency, the money is gone as soon as you send it. While all the CryptoBlackmail scams we've seen demand you send Bitcoin to BTC (Bitcoin) wallet addresses, there's nothing stopping criminals from requesting payment in "altcoins" like Monero. How to Check if Your Passwords Have Leaked You can check to see whether any of your passwords have been compromised using a service like Have I Been Pwned?. However, services like these don't have every single password database that's ever been stolen. It's best to just use a unique password everywhere so it doesn't matter if one service suffers a breach. If you re-use the same password everywhere, your other accounts are vulnerable whenever one service leaks your password. How to Protect Yourself Here's what you need to do to stay safe: Ignore the Scammers: First of all, forget the scam. As we said above, don't try to negotiate with the scammer or pay them a single cent. All they have are empty threats. You will just be
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