DS being blackmailed by an email saying videos/pics on his phone will be sent to his contacts unless he pays into a bitcoin account

[ArentYouInBedYet]

Any advice please?

It's bollocks-I had a spell of getting these which as I'm female and I don't use porn I knew were just a con- even if you do- they are still rubbish- they rely on catching the odd person who it 'could' apply to and gets frightened- utterarseholes

This. I had an email from my own email to my email. It said they had hacked my laptop and had filmed me walking off to porn. Er, nope nope and nope!

Did freak me out a little bit though wondering if I had been hacked. Not sure how they did it. Changed my password. No other emails sent. It threatened to send it auto all my contacts if I didn’t pay and the amount would go up each time they emailed.

As someone else said OP- if they send a password as evidence- it's because they buy 'hacked old lists' that contain passwords

Whatever happens and whatever advice you get @ArentYouInBedYet tell your DS he was absolutely right in coming to you or telling another person, that anyone in the future doing the same relies on shame and the ability to blackmail. So reassure him he’s done well

Report to police.

I get these probably once a week for the last several years and none of my photos have been leaked so far.
It’s just a scam. Don’t even open them, just delete and move on.

It's pretty easy to spoof an email address if you have basic knowledge of scripting languages. You can do it with a simple PHP or Python script so even if it is DS's email address, it's still a scam.

The first one I got came from my email address. Check his sent emails. It won't be there, nor will it be in his deleted box.

It's nothing more than a scam, designed to try & scare people. I've had 3 or 4 of those EXACT emails, telling me they can access my computer & pictures etc. It is impossible! Delete & ignore.

The first time it happened to me I reported to the fraud team but there isn't much they can do. They just make a record of the (untraceable) email which it was sent from

It's spam, I get a few of these emails a week.

IncognitoUsername · Today 18:25

If he’s 19, why are you dealing with it?

Theres always one dick . You wouldn’t help your frightened 19 year old? Shame on you.

Report to police, OP, though it’s no doubt a scam.

@IncognitoUsername all 19 y o have all the answers, don't they? Why in earth would they need support? Dick.

This is a common fraud. Delete it and ignore it and don't worry about it. My career is cybersecurity and this is a common activity.

Agree it’s a common fraud and likely to happen again. Suggest that he registers some different email addresses depending on what the usage is. Eg if he needs to register for porn sites set up on email address for that with a specific email address. If it’s some gaming sites then a different email address. For business use on very specific email which is not used for anything else. It’s a bit of a pita but means you’ve got a pretty good idea of where any leaks come from and can just go and change the passwords. V v common and just needs a bit of internet savvy to get around it

This. Usually once a child turns 18 most people kick them out, refuse to offer any advice or emotional support and generally stop having anything to do with them. Like a lioness leaving her cub behind.

OP clearly didn't get the memo. Shame on you OP for listening to your 19 year olds worries and trying to assist. Now you've all but guaranteed he will still be living with you when he is 40 and you'll be doing his washing.

I seem to remember getting something like this years ago. I'm pretty sure it also started "Hello Pervert" (I love that you're greeting him that way now - you've got to laugh to take some of the nasty sting out of it!)

Like another PP, I don't watch porn, do anything illegal (or interesting, really!) and I have a webcam cover but those horrible bastards do make you second guess yourself for a minute, even when that's the case!

I did laugh at a PP's glee at the invention of deep fake as a bulwark against blackmail - got to love someone who can find the silver lining!

Yes was going to say this. They have almost certainly spoofed his email address and the message has not actually come from his email account.

My child got one from their non-existent child saying that they (fake child) have lost their phone and can they (my child) send them some money.

Scams come in all shapes and sizes.

It's fake. Don't engage

I get something similar regularly. They think I'm a man and pretend that they have video footage of me masturbating (!)
They don't obviously.
Delete, block, report etc

@ArentYouInBedYet , go to police. They are the only ones who can deal with it properly.

I've had the "hello pevert" email and various other quite similar ones. I've never looked at any porn so definitely a scam but I do find them quite sinister.

that exact same thing happened to me as well. I think it was sent from me to me. Ignore. Change password. They’re just phishing.

A lot of us got these on our work emails a few years ago despite the system having pretty strong security. Like your DS they all appeared to come from our own email addresses. Teaching in a uni I went off to the Computing department who explained that changing the apparent email address is a doddle.

It's like any other scam - they hope that if they send out enough of the things, at least a few will bite. If someone really had been doing something they shouldn't they might panic and not think straight and pay the money. Sending an email costs nothing so anyone who does pay is clear profit for them.

Very similar! It is awful isnt it. Especially if you are a bit vulnerable like DS is. I think they asked for 1400 in Bitcoin, but apart from that pretty much the same 😡

I've had a few emails like that over the years. Just ignore it.