Scooperman
Registered: 15.03.2009
Location: United Kingdom Posts: 5
18.07.2018 09:48:30
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Security Breach?
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I've received an email trying to extort cash from me because malware has been installed on my PC that has recorded a porn website I was using and video from my webcam of me enjoying the website, with threats that if I don't pay a $3200 "confidentiality fee" in Bitcoin, then the images will be released to my friends and colleagues whose contacts have also been stolen from me.
This is a scam (not least because the PC on which this allegedly happened is a work PC in an open plan office) and I won't be paying. However, the email has an air of legitimacy because it includes the password that I use for the PFRL site. Are you aware of a data breach?
If anyone else receives the email, don't reply, just delete it, but most importantly, please change your password.
Race (and play) safely.
Scooperman.
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GaKra Motors
Registered: 02.03.2006
Location: Switzerland Posts: 925
20.07.2018 20:25:01
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I have heard of this scam, and the tricky thing about it is that the password they mention to be stolen is legit, so some people might be intended to believe the rest, too. Apparently there is nothing to worry about from that point, so if anyone gets this, don't pay. But by all means change your password wherever you use it.
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Scooperman
Registered: 15.03.2009
Location: United Kingdom Posts: 5
19.07.2018 09:47:27
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The password mentioned in the email was only currently in use on the PFRL site, though I had used it elsewhere in the past so it's entirely possible that it was picked up from some old data somewhere else.
This is a confirmed scam and more information is available on the UK Police ActionFraud website:
https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/news/alert-cyber-criminals-send-victims-their-own-passwords-in-new-sextortion-scam-jul18
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Maverick
Registered: 10.01.2004
Location: Austria Posts: 1076
18.07.2018 21:20:26
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Hi Scooperman
There is no indication that the PFRL database has been hacked. Do you use the password exclusively on the PFRL website? Are there other relations to PFRL in this scam E-mail?
I always install all security updates on the web server. So I hope that the data are not from the PFRL database. Please keep me informed.
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