Freaky hacker email with part of my password

[Thatone5]

Hi all, everyone has received a few random fake hacker emails at some point. I usually ignore them. Yet today’s one freaked me out as it contained part of my password that I remember using a while back. Not a password I’ve used much recently but have definitely used it as part of a longer word when setting up login for a few things (not anything dodgy) I can’t recall exactly what though.

The sender was an outlook email and contained lots of weird content:

𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐖𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐬, 𝐲𝐞𝐭 , 𝐟𝐮𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐄𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐨 𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐟𝐟 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐬𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐝𝐮𝐥𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐞 𝐰𝐞𝐛𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐞 (𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐥𝐥 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐲 𝟏 𝐥𝐨𝐥)

𝐈𝐧 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐞 𝐈'𝐦 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐛𝐥𝐮𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐝 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐟 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐈'𝐥𝐥 𝐠𝐨 𝐚𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐲 𝐛𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐟𝐚𝐛𝐮𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐨 𝟏𝟓 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐦𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐠𝐮𝐞𝐬 (𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐞𝐝, 𝐈 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐚𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐩𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬)

𝐈 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐲 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐈 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮. 𝐀𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐫 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭.

𝐄𝐱𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬?

𝟏. 𝐁𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚 𝐝𝐨𝐮𝐛𝐭 𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐥 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐞 𝐛𝐥𝐮𝐟𝐟 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐞
𝟐. 𝐀𝐧𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐟

𝐖𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐢𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐲. 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐨 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬.

𝐏𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰?

𝐎𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐝, 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐠𝐨𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐬. 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐝 𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞.

𝟑. 𝐏𝐚𝐲 𝐮𝐩 𝐦𝐞 $𝟐𝟎𝟎𝟎 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐢𝐩𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐈 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐠𝐨 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐮𝐩 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐛𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮.

𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐲 𝐨𝐧 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐬 𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐲𝐥𝐞!

𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐫 𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞? (𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲, 𝐈 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧𝐲 𝐛𝐢𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫)

𝐈𝐧 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐩𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧? 𝐔𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐁𝐢𝐭𝐜𝐨𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐫 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 (𝐈𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐁𝐢𝐭𝐜𝐨𝐢𝐧, 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐠𝐥𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐨𝐛𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐛𝐢𝐭𝐜𝐨𝐢𝐧. 𝐃𝐨 𝐀𝐛𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞!)

And to pay up in 24 hours etc. Totally weirded out by this..!

By the way, my password is not a common word that they’ve randomly guessed either.

Someone posted this same thing a few days ago. I had the same emails about a year ago and it’s likely that these people got your details from leaked password websites, even one you may not have used for many years eg MySpace.

Just make sure that you change your password if you still use the same one on any other websites but otherwise please don’t worry, this is very common.

It's very common OP, I've had one and I certainly have not been anywhere near any adult movie websites As pp have said, change your passwords as a precaution and forget about the email.

Thanks both - have never had one with an actual password in so was freaky at first glance.

Feel better now though!

Wonder what the proof they’d have provided would have been

Basically a password you may have used somewhere ages ago could be compromised, eg a website data breach. So they may have that old password

However the rest of it is bullshit. There’s no videos. They don’t know who your colleagues are. Provided you don’t use that old password anywhere now, they can’t do anything. Hence the poorly written threats.

Obviously change your passwords everywhere to something strong, unique and secure. Enable 2 factor authorisation for everything important eg emails, banking etc etc

An absolute scam with a compromised password bought from somewhere on the web.
Click the spam button and forget about it .

Send them this link learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/online-english-level-test

Don’t reply whatever you do.
Just change your passwords as a precaution.

I've had similar with poorly written English too. Don't worry about it.

Mt brother got one of these and while the password wasn't right it actually was one he might have used (linked to his job). He says he has had one in the past that gave his correct password which is a worry.

Oh forgot that they accused my brother of pleasuring himself on adult sites which as he knew he hadn't been he felt quite confident ignoring the email.

That's even worse English than the scam message I had ages ago! Yes, they had one of my old passwords too - I already knew it had been compromised.

I absolutely knew they were scamming, because I don't watch any porn sites.

Just make sure you don't use that password for anything now, change your current passwords for good measure, and then ignore it.

For someone so clever to be able to hack your personal info their grammar & construction is appalling. Delete and change your passwords & think no more about it. It would be so tempting to reply ' 'bring it on motherfucker do your worst'

Reply (please don't) and tell them you run an internet corporation and that you have tracked their proxy/vpn and decrypted their traffic. You have instructed 2 Russian mercenaries to pay them a visit and ensure they will have problems not just with their grammar but actually typing for the rest of their lives.

Then advise them that they should send you $4000 and you will cancel your hit squad.

Thanks a lot everyone for your reassurances. Never had a personalised one before so freaked me out a bit.

If you want to punish them (well, mess them about a bit), and I sincerely hope you do, have a look at this:

spa.mnesty.com/

I've had 3 of these today with a password I used about 10 years ago. Just delete them, it's a scam

I got one this morning! It had an old password in it that I used probably 8 years ago and threatened to embarrass me to everyone I know if I didn’t send $2000USD of Bitcoin to them.
Google ‘have I been pwned’ - it will bring up a website where you enter your email and it can tell you if your address is associated with any sites that have had a data breach.

I had the bitcoin one too, with old password. I knew I had not been on any adult sites, but changed my password on the one random website I was still using it on.

I get these all the time. The mnhq hack meant that my email address and password was posted online. Stupid fuckwits dig it up periodically and can’t quite grasp that a - duh I changed my password when it was published, b- I don’t wank online to porn and c - I don’t do blackmail.
Delete. Asshats.

I got two more of these overnight. Every now and then I get a lot of junk email from the US, the majority went straight to junk folder. It died off recently. I was deleting it from my junk folder unread so I thought doing this over a long period of time had registered somewhere with outlook that they should not even put them in my junk folder and it had reduced substantially. But recently it has started up again. I think it goes in waves, your details get sold on and on, and it seems like a fresh wave has got hold of them. Annoying.

I had one of those earlier in the week. The password was an old one but I was still using similar variations so I just changed those as a precaution, marked the message as spam and deleted.

I had a clear score notification yesterday and they can check where your passwords appear on the dark web. One of my old ones appeared over 50 times!