Blackmailing email

[whataboutbob]

I have received a long email correctly quoting a username I used on a website once ( I really can’t remember which) saying they have footage of me masturbating to camera ( no such footage exists). They want 2000 dollars in bitcoins not to disseminate it to my parents , boss, etc basically anyone in my inbox. They are also threatening to install malware on my device. Obviously, there’s a link for me to click on. I’m not scared of them forwarding a non existent film of me, , but can I report the scammers/ forward the email to anyone who can do something to stop the persons responsible? Sooner or later they will hit a vulnerable person who will be exploited- if it hasn’t happened already

It’s a very well known scam. There have been several similar threads over the past couple of weeks. Do not click any links, just delete the email and change any passwords you have to be on the safe side.

This is an extremely well known scam. They get your email and password from sites that have previously been hacked and hope you're still using those credentials somewhere. They don't have any footage of you nor access to your PC. The only reason to be concerned might be if you are one of those people who uses the same password for lots of sites and still use the one that's been compromised. If that were the case then hackers, not necessarily the ones trying to scam you now, could get into some of your online accounts.

I had this the tossers! Just delete it, you'll be fine

Total scam. Delete it.

There's something about CV that has made this ramp up. I had one in the past and have had 2 in the last week and loads of threads about them on MN in the last few weeks.

Delete and ignore.

I think Action Fraud might be the place to forward it to but they're already aware of it.

That email has been circulating for months if not years so I'm sure it has been reported many times but what can anyone do if scammers keep changing their email addresses?

I've had loads. I don't worry as from the days of me webcamming I'm unrecognisable to now anyway 😁

I got one of these today too. I googled it- then deleted it. Ignore it.

Scam. Ignore

OP - to answer your actual question, you can report it here (although I've no personal experience of doing so)

www.ncsc.gov.uk/information/report-suspicious-emails

I had one of these once while working for my previous company, it's a well known scam.
Obviously they didn't have any footage of my watching porn or whatever as I don't, clearly a scam.
I didn't click or respond, but did send it to my company's IT department to deal with.
If this is a personal email instead (ie. not on a work site) send to the gov.uk 'suspicious emails' site.

If you put your email into haveibeenpwnd.com you will see if your email address has been in a mass scale data breach.

haveibeenpwned.com/

@incognitomum- that made me laugh. I’m so old I’ve never featured in any kind of footage .
Thanks to those who have pointed me toward a reporting website. I will also brace myself to check whether my email has been in a mass data breach .

I checked and been pwned 5 times. One on myfitness pal which I haven't used for years. Another Shein account which I haven't used much at all.

I have checked. 9 times. Includes LinkedIn. My fitness pal and others I haven’t even heard of . I have also reported and forwarded the email to the government reporting site.

Slightly off the subject but related- does anyone else think that the usual plethora of scam phone calls has definitely decreased to near zero during the pandemic?

Yes that’s true. We haven’t had a single one in the 4 weeks of lockdown. Maybe the scammers are self isolating? That suggests they work in boiler rooms and not from home .

I had this too and was scared until I realised this footage simply cannot exist. But if I had ever done such a thing I'd have been beside myself.