P*rn blackmail email

[Germainefear]

NCd for this as I am both ashamed and scared.

Last night I used porn (I didn’t come here to be judged. I hate myself for it, so go easy). This morning I have had an email from a stranger saying that they hacked my webcam and will reveal the footage unless I pay them. Now I know that these are fakes (there has been a thread about them on here I think) but this one has worried me because it’s come so soon afterwards. It also named the site I used, which although a common one is still a red flag for me. Those coincidences make me worried. Please reassure me because I am feeling very useasy.

Their aim is to make you panic and pay up, they send out thousands and thousands of these emails hoping that someone is scared enough to cough up..

Sharpie on the spy hole.

I got one of these and I’ve never watched porn in my life lol. There’s every chance it’s Spam

Stick some masking tape over the laptop camera if you’re worried.

How do you know the movie title?? 😁

It's not targeting you personally. It just assumes everyone uses porn! Like the Microsoft scam.
If you're terrified your camera could be hacked put blu tak over it.

As others have said, if they'd hacked your laptop camera to watch you watching porn, then they've hacked your entire laptop and would have access to anything you've got on there - banking, emails etc etc. Spoiler alert - they never have. All they've done is bought some email addresses in a job lot from an unsecure site. So they are spam emailing on the grounds that a high proportion of people with emails will also watch porn.
Even I have had this email. I have never watched porn and I don't even think the camera on my laptop works. So it's just a mass mailing in the hope that they will catch one or two very guilty and susceptible people.
Don't worry about it.

I agree with everyone else. It’s an extortion scam. Just ignore.

They send out millions of these emails and it is just coincidence that it happened to apply to you this time. I got a fairly convincing one recently about my phone bill payment failed - again just coincidence that it fell on the same day my direct debit was due.

Unless you are a high profile target or have no security on your device then it is too much effort for these people to actually hack your webcam (possible and fairly easy in some cases - but time consuming). Much more likely they have sent the same message to loads of people looking for a “hit”.

Either way, if you’ve done nothing illegal just ignore.

If you want, share the text of the message. I’m sure it will be recognised by someone as they all seem to follow the same format.

How does some random person going on Xhamster or wherever and jerking themselves/rubbing one out or whatever term get linked to their email?

Not saying it can't happen but I doubt it.

Go into settings and make sure the camera is off. Most stuff I use that needs it - work conferences for example - ask me before they turn it on.

There's also a green pilot light that comes on when it's live.

Yes I've had this one before, 'honourable people' who are currently trying to black mail you but would definitely only blackmail you once. Bunch of twats.

Report and delete the email. Run a full virus and malware scan for peace of mind, and tape over cam. As others have said, when they send out hundreds of thousands of these emails, the probability is that some of them will arrive at the right time to make people panic.

It’s phishing and it’s illegal to blackmail someone or threaten to post sexual videos, so even if it were true (it’s not) the law is on your side.

It’s spam. Delete it and move on.

I got one of those emails that even included my password. I knew it was fake because I had never watched porn, but the password was one I did use at the time. They’d have got it from some unrelated data breach, but since people often reuse passwords thought it would make the threats more plausible.

It is technically possible to remotely turn on a webcam, though not easy to do without it being obvious. If you are worried about that happening in future just tape over the camera. But it is extraordinarily unlikely that this email is anything other than spam.

If you where watching porn on a laptop how on earth would they see anything... in virtually any laptop usage position your fanny is nowhere near the cameras view.

I got the Hello Pervert one about an hour ago. 😆😳

As others have said this is a scam.

You should cover your laptop camera with a sticker though.

I have never watched porn, but still received one of these emails. The generic wording was aimed at a male office worker; I am a retired female.
I read an anecdote once of a famous author (G.K.Chesterton, I think but not sure) who sent out telegrams to eminent public figures, information garnered from "Who's Who?" which bore a message , something like "All has been revealed, flee instantly!" - and some guilty souls were seen no more in society!
So it's not even a modern scam, just updated for modern technology!

I get these emails regularly and don’t watch porn. The last one started “hey pervert” which made me laugh.

@Germainefear I don't understand what he's threatening you with. The webcam just shows you, not what you were watching. So the webcam is just going to be a video of you, basically, not the porn. Why would that be an issue?

Because I was masturbating!

@Germainefear Ah, you're a man, sorry. As others have said though, it's a baseless scam. If he actually had video footage of you wanking, he would have shown it. He didn't show any video footage because he doesn't have any.

But even if anyone ever did threaten you with actual video footage, never ever give money to a scammer as a matter of principle. If it seems like a serious threat, just go to the police instead.

Eh? I’m a woman.

How come you presume it’s a male? Some women also watch porn to masterbate. You maybe just don’t hear about it as much

Sorry that was to @shuggles

Scam…why do you hate yourself for it though, that’s abit extreme!

I've had several of these over the last few years, which I've found in my Junk in-box.
The sender not only accuses me of watching porn, (which has never interested me, honestly), nor of "pleasuring myself", but of wanking away with my "dick".
If I don't pay a ransom of so many 1,000's of bitcoin, the sender will publish the footage of me 😱
Thing is, I don't have a penis..........(well, I didn't last time I checked 🤷‍♀️)