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Thread: Boy, I'm in trouble now!

  1. 09-13-2018, 12:05 PM #1
    Wade Lippman
    Wade Lippman is offline [OP] Member
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    Boy, I'm in trouble now!

    I just got an email saying that malware got on my computer when I visited a pornography website. They have a video of what I was watching, and also a video of me watching it taken though my camera. They will send them to everyone on my contacts list if I don't pay them $4,000.
    They even had my password to prove they were on my computer.
    I just don't know what to do!

    Now of course no woodworker would ever go to a pornography website, but they do have my password so they could easily just take a video of me using SMC and intermix their own pornography. It would be identical. Oh wait... doesn't the fact that it can be so easily faked make the threat meaningless? More a funny anecdote than a real problem?

    And I routinely run 3 malware scanners, none of which detected anything amiss; but they could easily be super competent hackers who know how to get around the best scanners and chose to use their knowledge on a cheap thing like this rather than something they can make real money on it. Sure that makes sense.

    After all, they have my password. No way they could have gotten the password I use on 200 websites that I don't care about except by infecting my computer. I mean, its not like anyone could have guessed that I used my wife's name as a throwaway password. And websites are never hacked, losing passwords.

    The only thing that makes me feel better is that my computer doesn't have a camera. But perhaps they are so good they got around that also.

    Oh, I don't know what to do.

    I wonder if anyone sends them $4,000?
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  3. 09-13-2018, 12:25 PM #2
    Dave Anderson NH's Avatar
    Dave Anderson NH
    Dave Anderson NH is offline Moderator
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    Didn't you know that they remotely installed a camera on your computer. Boy you're in trouble now.
    Dave Anderson

    Chester, NH
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  4. 09-13-2018, 12:35 PM #3
    Ken Fitzgerald's Avatar
    Ken Fitzgerald
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    As I have heard it said....There's a sucker born every minute!
    Ken

    So much to learn, so little time.....
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  5. 09-13-2018, 12:36 PM #4
    Peter Kelly's Avatar
    Peter Kelly
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    Ring them up and live stream your trolling session. Always good for a laugh.

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  6. 09-13-2018, 1:19 PM #5
    Tom Stenzel
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    Don't worry Wade. When we all get that email they made of you at least we all can learn where to find the good stuff! Pictures of trees with all the bark stripped off. Bare wood for all to see.

    If you want to pay them just send a picture of a pile of pennies. I'm sure that will take care of everything.

    I miss the calls from the IRS telling me to pay up or the POLICE ARE COMING AFTER ME! Those guys were fun to yank around, I always insisted that I want to pay in person. Once the conversation got far enough that I said I was going to pay those lousy G-men in hot lead. They hung up on me! Wimps. They just don't scammers like they used to.

    -Tom
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  7. 09-13-2018, 1:40 PM #6
    Aaron Rosenthal
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    Firstly, they'll want bitcoin - criminals love it because it's untraceable.
    I feel for you. Members of my family have been targeted. Not fun.
    Change all your passwords. Tell your bank.credit agencies, investment people etc.
    Call the police. They have specialists on this.
    attend your preferred religious institution (a joke).
    Young enough to remember doing it;
    Old enough to wish I could do it again.
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  8. 09-13-2018, 1:55 PM #7
    Peter Kelly's Avatar
    Peter Kelly
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    Quote Originally Posted by Aaron Rosenthal View Post
    Firstly, they'll want bitcoin - criminals love it because it's untraceable.
    No, Bitcoin is highly traceable. The blockchain is totally public, transaction IDs can even be Google'd.

    Monero is the allegedly non-traceable one.
    Last edited by Peter Kelly; 09-13-2018 at 1:59 PM.
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  9. 09-13-2018, 1:59 PM #8
    Pat Barry's Avatar
    Pat Barry
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    Which pornography site were you viewing?

    (Just kidding).

    I wouldnt be concerned with this but I would change your important passwords ASAP
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  10. 09-13-2018, 2:25 PM #9
    Jim Koepke's Avatar
    Jim Koepke
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    Did they say they have your password or did they actually tell you what password you have been using?

    jtk
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
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  11. 09-13-2018, 3:17 PM #10
    Wade Lippman
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Koepke View Post
    Did they say they have your password or did they actually tell you what password you have been using?

    jtk
    They actually told me a password I use. I use it on hundreds of websites I don't care about, so likely one of those sites was hacked. If someone wants to impersonate me at an appliance repair forum I used 2 years ago,(or whatever...) good for them.
    I use unique passwords for anything important, and double verification for anything involving money. Just to be safe, I changed my email password though.

    It probably would be prudent to change all my important passwords, but there are dozens of them. Airline mileage sites, stores, credit card sites, etc., but the odds of them actually having been on my computer is pretty close to zero.
    Last edited by Wade Lippman; 09-13-2018 at 3:22 PM.
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  12. 09-13-2018, 4:20 PM #11
    Bill Dufour
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    They are probably not native speakers of English and do not understand the difference between vise and Vice.
    Better not stick anything in a knothole you are not willing to lose to a scammer. Maybe you were looking at pictures of naked trees in winter.
    Or maybe you are into tree bondage and now they know.
    https://hiveminer.com/Tags/chained%2Cphotography
    Bill D
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  13. 09-13-2018, 4:26 PM #12
    Rod Sheridan's Avatar
    Rod Sheridan
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    Quote Originally Posted by Pat Barry View Post
    Which pornography site were you viewing?

    (Just kidding).

    I wouldnt be concerned with this but I would change your important passwords ASAP
    According to my wife, it would be the Lee Valley site.

    Whenever the catalogue arrives Diann gives it to me and says "your tool porn's here".

    Regards, Rod.
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  14. 09-13-2018, 7:26 PM #13
    michael langman
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    How ironic Wade. After advising me to be careful with the creeps that tried to rip me off this happens to you. Don't let your son know about what's happening to you.
    What will the think of next.
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  15. 09-13-2018, 8:44 PM #14
    Jim Koepke's Avatar
    Jim Koepke
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    Maybe a reply like, "please send pictures, they would be fun to send to all my kinky friends."

    jtk
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
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  16. 09-13-2018, 9:56 PM #15
    Bruce Wrenn
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    You got one of them new fangled wide angle cameras that can see both you and what is on your screen at the same time? A piece of blue tape can cover your camera. That's what wife does to peep holes in motel doors. The saying used to be "A picture is worth a thousand words." With today's technology, a picture is worthless. Every morning, I watch weather girl walk all over northern South America while doing weather forecast.
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