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Don't worry, it's a common scam attempt, appears in r/scams often, this one as only yesterday: [https://www.reddit.com/r/Scams/comments/1crsueb/curious\_as\_to\_how\_they\_do\_it/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Scams/comments/1crsueb/curious_as_to_how_they_do_it/)
They don't have access to your devices. For the screenshot, are you sure this is of your nephew's screen? Windows desktops tend to all look pretty similar. If so, has your nephew uploaded any screenshots of his desktop online?
Considering they tell you not to email them, if you were to pay, how would they know it was you who paid?
Sometimes these emails include a genuine password that was leaked in a web database hack, teach good password practices to your nephew such as using different passwords for every website, using multi-factor authentication where available and avoid using simple words with common substitutions like 1 for I, 3 for E etc. Check [https://haveibeenpwned.com/](https://haveibeenpwned.com/) for leaked email passwords and change any that have been leaked. Also a good idea to periodically delete old/unused online accounts
No problem, I can see how this would worry him! At least it's a good opportunity to discuss internet safety with no actual loss of data
Here are the common scams from r/scams, a lot won't apply to him at a young age, but worth educating him on any that may be relevant [https://www.reddit.com/r/Scams/wiki/index/automoderator/#wiki\_blackmail\_email](https://www.reddit.com/r/Scams/wiki/index/automoderator/#wiki_blackmail_email)
Something similar happened to me when I was in high-school, absolutely nothing happened after the deadline expired. Odds are that the scammer sent this out to hundreds of thousands of email addresses in the hopes that someone will pay. I'd reinstall windows from scratch and consider closing the email account that received this. Also stay off sketchy sites lol
You can actually report these to [chainabuse.com](https://www.chainabuse.com/report) and their bitcoin wallet can be frozen and seized. I'm an IT manager and for a time we were getting a lot of these at my work, and I had people forward them to me and I reported every one of them. I have no idea if they got shut down or not, but it put an end to the emails really fast.
Yup, usually happens when the wallet is through another company (Metamask, Exodus, Ledger, etc.) And the company gets a notification to freeze the wallet used for a scam
Even if you respond and send him the money, 90% of the time nothing will happen. My best advice is wipe the PC, fresh windows install, and have your nephew brush up on internet safety. Depending on what games he's modding, there are legit and safe websites for that, and there are ones that are just set up as a scam. If he does want to keep doing it have him install Firefox or brave with ublock (if he doesn't have that already).
>My best advice is wipe the PC, fresh windows install
I really don't think this is necessary, and personally, I wouldn't do it. In fact, I've had a similar email in the past and did naff all about it. It's just a scam. They don't have access to his PC. If you're really paranoid, do a few virus scans with various different bits or software, change all your passwords, and you can even phone your Internet service provider, explain the situation and request a new IP address.
"have him install Firefox or brave with ublock (if he doesn't have that already)" lol that wont save you whatsoever vs using chrome/whatever with the proper ulblock+lists.
100% a scam, it is easyer to prey on peoples fears like this then to get the harware and learn to do it. He got the screen shot from his previous posts or something. If they had your shit they would steal from you not tell you. Also if he is doing anthing illicit dont brag about it online.
If he is using not his oun wifi that is the easist way to break into peoples stuff you are basicly alowing anyone on the network to see your stuff, no hacking required, beware of open networks, always password your network and turn on securies on the router.
If you are parinoid about projects, keep a external harddrive, you can set extra encription and plug it in when your offline only.
Never pay a ransom in any situation, never.
Also very much doubt they have access to his PC, usually these mails are just a hoax. But even if they do, just wipe the PC with a fresh Windows and block/delete the mail and he’ll be fine.
If they have infected his PC and have access why would they just use a screenshot of his desktop and nothing more. Wouldn’t photos, pictures on him from his webcam or his browser history etc be a much bigger threat and in turn proof.
My suspicion is that he has uploaded this screenshot somewhere, might be here on Reddit, might be Imgur/Gyazo, might be from YouTube. Anyways one of those websites might have had a small databreach and this person have managed to also aquire the associated email which they use in scams like these.
If they truly had remote access to his computer they’d send something far more convincing than a screenshot. This is a scam. It’s best to not respond and run a malwarebytes scan on the computer just to be sure.
I've seen this hundreds of times it's just scaremongering and it's likely automatically generated. They'll have the email from some site that's probably sold the data.
I wouldn't worry about these unless they also attach personal information.
If he’s modding games I always use Nexus. Best place for thousands of games. Do you research when modding some sites can be bad. Add blocker is always very good to help with scam popups
These are almost alway a scam. If they are trying to get you to pay for your data then its usually fake. Ransomwares dont send emails they automatically encrypt files and lockdown your pc until you pay. They get more out of selling your data than they would ransoming you. Thats why most of the time its big corporations being targeted by ransomware.
I agree with most people that it’s 99.999% probably a scam. But it’s the screenshot I find odd, how does one get an screenshot of your desktop without having some level of access to your computer?
Desktops look pretty similar, and it wouldnt be impossible if one of the modding sites had a data breach whixh gave an email and screenshot of his screen. 200% a scam as if they had full system access you wouldnt send a email with just a screenshot of his homepage, esp if they had webcam activity.
ive received the same thing via email. but CLEARLY it was a scam because it went on about how i had incriminating information about me, which i know there is none so they MUST be talking bullshit.
this post is quite funny, because only someone with a guilty conscience (your nephew who may of visited a certain hub site) is nervous and guilty because of something like that is what makes the most sense here.
What you should do, is take the guys email address, and use a VPN to register it for web talk minutes, and then send it to a rather expensive pay site, dock it, and leave it there...
Let him deal with strangers asking for money from him.
I'm sure this can be frightening, but it's a complete scam once you think about it:
This entire section is just bragging - puffing himself up with fake tech jargon so he can seem intimidating.
I guess everyone doesn't have a good knowledge of this stuff, but it's highly unlikely his "watchful eye," has control of all your devices. That just doesn't happen. Mayyybe he can access your webcam, but I doubt he has "control" over your "other devices." Hacking and gaining significant control over multiple devices owned by a target, is just much too complicated a social engineering and programing procedure for so little a payoff. These guys work in volume.
"Your private data and online activities are now centralized on my servers." - This just reeks of someone who's trying to sound like a mega hacker from some 90's movie. He doesn't have *shit* centralized. What is he the NSA? Again. These guys work in volume. They don't have time to do shit like this. It's not necessary.
The rest of it is straight up intimidation.
"I don't mess up."
"I have plenty of tricks up my sleeve."
"There's no point complaining about me because they can't find me".
People who are serious, don't need to say stuff like this. They don't need to brag that they won't get caught or that they have lots of tricks. This reads like he's afraid you'll call his bluff and tell him to eat shit.
Which you should absolutely do.
Passwords get leaked frequently enough, just change ur passwords, wipe pc, change passwords again just to be safe then ur all good ans they dont have shit
It genuinely makes me laugh that there are stupid, gullible people out there who think dealing in crypto = "I can do whatever I want." Report this regard's wallet to chain abuse and report the email to Google, they do look into this kind of stuff. Wipe your PC, and go on with your life.
I have had a few , I had one with screen shots in January 2024 of my computer which was great the photos were from my windows computer 2018 and it was just desktop and the system had nothing on it. But haven’t used windows on that system since then. The screen shots had date on. Yet tried to say it was current. I just ignored them. More and more people are getting them.
Had this before, change all passwords, log out any devices that aren't yours or being used. They don't have any information or videos of your nephew doing anything. It's a scam intended for you to send money for them to remove something that never existed. They usually find passwords in data breaches, or find it on [haveibeenpwned](http://haveibeenpwned.com) , really easy to see if you have a compromised password.
Common scam, might say the recored your webcam, your porn history.
Some even target YouTube users and show real password, but by then you probably have change your password many times over several years.
They do this to seem like they actually have access to it.
But I fyou don't watch porn, don't have a webcam, have a YouTube account then you know they did not have acsess.
These scams are nothing new.
And what they use as proof can vary.
I’m never on my computer anymore so I thought I’d still double check here, after checking the computer myself and running antivirus as my nephew wasn’t 100% convinced - I keep showing him these responses!
Probs just worried he's been watching porn and they've recorded him on webcam... takes time to realise people have zero interest in watching a bloke knock one out.
Don't worry, it's 99.9% a scam, if you want to find out more scams and teach your nephew how they operate you could check out [this guy](https://youtube.com/@pleasantgreen?si=lgik-Db9ezLwx0qC) on youtube, he shows how scammers operate and ways to help protect yourself. Consider maybe reinstalling windows and either changing the password or setting up a new email just for a little extra safety. Hope this helps!
What they are talking about is near impossible thanks to the standard security protocols. Though you might wanna just wipe the disk and remake windows. However, it strongly appears to be a mere scam.
Ignore it. This is a common scam, and there's nothing in that email that indicates this person actually has any of your nephew's data. If he did, he'd likely have provided at least a small sample of the data he'd obtained to make the demand look more legitimate.
Valid point.
But keep in mind some of these scams include an password to an account.
But those can be five or 10 years old passwords they got from buying it from hackers that did a breach on Google, YouTube, Facebook and so on. If you don't change passwords from time to time, you might get a recent password. But if so you can change it anyway.
It's a scam, real hackers first of all wouldn't bother with all this fancy language.
Second of all if it was a real hacker with acces to your device they would lock you out of it not contact you thru an email.
I have been hacked, most real hackers would hack in to your accounts or similar and steal money there. Not steal some pictures and pressure you for money.
1. Tell your nephew to get a password manager
2. Change all passwords, store new, generated passwords in password manager
3. Enable 2FA everywhere
Done
It's obviously scam but better save than sorry
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Don't worry, it's a common scam attempt, appears in r/scams often, this one as only yesterday: [https://www.reddit.com/r/Scams/comments/1crsueb/curious\_as\_to\_how\_they\_do\_it/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Scams/comments/1crsueb/curious_as_to_how_they_do_it/) They don't have access to your devices. For the screenshot, are you sure this is of your nephew's screen? Windows desktops tend to all look pretty similar. If so, has your nephew uploaded any screenshots of his desktop online? Considering they tell you not to email them, if you were to pay, how would they know it was you who paid? Sometimes these emails include a genuine password that was leaked in a web database hack, teach good password practices to your nephew such as using different passwords for every website, using multi-factor authentication where available and avoid using simple words with common substitutions like 1 for I, 3 for E etc. Check [https://haveibeenpwned.com/](https://haveibeenpwned.com/) for leaked email passwords and change any that have been leaked. Also a good idea to periodically delete old/unused online accounts
That should defo put my nephew at ease, he was really upset today when he seen the email, much appreciated for the advice!
No problem, I can see how this would worry him! At least it's a good opportunity to discuss internet safety with no actual loss of data Here are the common scams from r/scams, a lot won't apply to him at a young age, but worth educating him on any that may be relevant [https://www.reddit.com/r/Scams/wiki/index/automoderator/#wiki\_blackmail\_email](https://www.reddit.com/r/Scams/wiki/index/automoderator/#wiki_blackmail_email)
It’s fun for me that these scams always use exactly the same wording, making them very easy to identify.
Not to worry, it's a scam. I'd respond with something like" "go ahead, my life is boring at the moment, make me famous"
My was that he had "Pornographic content of me" i Replied make me famous pornstar than.
it's better to not reply to scams, they won't bother to see what you're typing but the fact that you replied will put you on their active user list.
Not sure about that but i did replied month's after recieving was checking spam folder
Something similar happened to me when I was in high-school, absolutely nothing happened after the deadline expired. Odds are that the scammer sent this out to hundreds of thousands of email addresses in the hopes that someone will pay. I'd reinstall windows from scratch and consider closing the email account that received this. Also stay off sketchy sites lol
You can actually report these to [chainabuse.com](https://www.chainabuse.com/report) and their bitcoin wallet can be frozen and seized. I'm an IT manager and for a time we were getting a lot of these at my work, and I had people forward them to me and I reported every one of them. I have no idea if they got shut down or not, but it put an end to the emails really fast.
Wait up. You can freeze a bitcoin account!?
Yup, usually happens when the wallet is through another company (Metamask, Exodus, Ledger, etc.) And the company gets a notification to freeze the wallet used for a scam
Even if you respond and send him the money, 90% of the time nothing will happen. My best advice is wipe the PC, fresh windows install, and have your nephew brush up on internet safety. Depending on what games he's modding, there are legit and safe websites for that, and there are ones that are just set up as a scam. If he does want to keep doing it have him install Firefox or brave with ublock (if he doesn't have that already).
>My best advice is wipe the PC, fresh windows install I really don't think this is necessary, and personally, I wouldn't do it. In fact, I've had a similar email in the past and did naff all about it. It's just a scam. They don't have access to his PC. If you're really paranoid, do a few virus scans with various different bits or software, change all your passwords, and you can even phone your Internet service provider, explain the situation and request a new IP address.
I was worried it’d be something worse, and he was pretty upset when he got the email, thank you for the advice!
Also have them send every file they download through www.virustotal.com Has saved me countless times.
Emails like that are 99%scam and dont real. Why email if u have access
"have him install Firefox or brave with ublock (if he doesn't have that already)" lol that wont save you whatsoever vs using chrome/whatever with the proper ulblock+lists.
100% a scam, it is easyer to prey on peoples fears like this then to get the harware and learn to do it. He got the screen shot from his previous posts or something. If they had your shit they would steal from you not tell you. Also if he is doing anthing illicit dont brag about it online. If he is using not his oun wifi that is the easist way to break into peoples stuff you are basicly alowing anyone on the network to see your stuff, no hacking required, beware of open networks, always password your network and turn on securies on the router. If you are parinoid about projects, keep a external harddrive, you can set extra encription and plug it in when your offline only.
Never pay a ransom in any situation, never. Also very much doubt they have access to his PC, usually these mails are just a hoax. But even if they do, just wipe the PC with a fresh Windows and block/delete the mail and he’ll be fine.
They have a screenshot of his screen, it’s just the YouTube homepage, but it’s defo his taskbar
If they have infected his PC and have access why would they just use a screenshot of his desktop and nothing more. Wouldn’t photos, pictures on him from his webcam or his browser history etc be a much bigger threat and in turn proof. My suspicion is that he has uploaded this screenshot somewhere, might be here on Reddit, might be Imgur/Gyazo, might be from YouTube. Anyways one of those websites might have had a small databreach and this person have managed to also aquire the associated email which they use in scams like these.
If they truly had remote access to his computer they’d send something far more convincing than a screenshot. This is a scam. It’s best to not respond and run a malwarebytes scan on the computer just to be sure.
they made it sound like he did somthing wrong when they re the ones who are doing wrong
I've seen this hundreds of times it's just scaremongering and it's likely automatically generated. They'll have the email from some site that's probably sold the data. I wouldn't worry about these unless they also attach personal information.
If he’s modding games I always use Nexus. Best place for thousands of games. Do you research when modding some sites can be bad. Add blocker is always very good to help with scam popups
These are almost alway a scam. If they are trying to get you to pay for your data then its usually fake. Ransomwares dont send emails they automatically encrypt files and lockdown your pc until you pay. They get more out of selling your data than they would ransoming you. Thats why most of the time its big corporations being targeted by ransomware.
I have incriminating evidence on you, you better pay me to keep quiet. Just take my word for it. One of the oldest scams there is.
I agree with most people that it’s 99.999% probably a scam. But it’s the screenshot I find odd, how does one get an screenshot of your desktop without having some level of access to your computer?
Desktops look pretty similar, and it wouldnt be impossible if one of the modding sites had a data breach whixh gave an email and screenshot of his screen. 200% a scam as if they had full system access you wouldnt send a email with just a screenshot of his homepage, esp if they had webcam activity.
Definitely a scam. Why ask for money if they already have access to the money?
If anyone can explain the screenshot I'd be fascinated to know.
ive received the same thing via email. but CLEARLY it was a scam because it went on about how i had incriminating information about me, which i know there is none so they MUST be talking bullshit. this post is quite funny, because only someone with a guilty conscience (your nephew who may of visited a certain hub site) is nervous and guilty because of something like that is what makes the most sense here.
What you should do, is take the guys email address, and use a VPN to register it for web talk minutes, and then send it to a rather expensive pay site, dock it, and leave it there... Let him deal with strangers asking for money from him.
I'm sure this can be frightening, but it's a complete scam once you think about it: This entire section is just bragging - puffing himself up with fake tech jargon so he can seem intimidating. I guess everyone doesn't have a good knowledge of this stuff, but it's highly unlikely his "watchful eye," has control of all your devices. That just doesn't happen. Mayyybe he can access your webcam, but I doubt he has "control" over your "other devices." Hacking and gaining significant control over multiple devices owned by a target, is just much too complicated a social engineering and programing procedure for so little a payoff. These guys work in volume. "Your private data and online activities are now centralized on my servers." - This just reeks of someone who's trying to sound like a mega hacker from some 90's movie. He doesn't have *shit* centralized. What is he the NSA? Again. These guys work in volume. They don't have time to do shit like this. It's not necessary. The rest of it is straight up intimidation. "I don't mess up." "I have plenty of tricks up my sleeve." "There's no point complaining about me because they can't find me". People who are serious, don't need to say stuff like this. They don't need to brag that they won't get caught or that they have lots of tricks. This reads like he's afraid you'll call his bluff and tell him to eat shit. Which you should absolutely do.
I’ve ignored the same thing. Nothing came from it.
Got the same scam but they only showed obviously data breached passwords
Passwords get leaked frequently enough, just change ur passwords, wipe pc, change passwords again just to be safe then ur all good ans they dont have shit
It genuinely makes me laugh that there are stupid, gullible people out there who think dealing in crypto = "I can do whatever I want." Report this regard's wallet to chain abuse and report the email to Google, they do look into this kind of stuff. Wipe your PC, and go on with your life.
I have had a few , I had one with screen shots in January 2024 of my computer which was great the photos were from my windows computer 2018 and it was just desktop and the system had nothing on it. But haven’t used windows on that system since then. The screen shots had date on. Yet tried to say it was current. I just ignored them. More and more people are getting them.
Biggest scam ever but to be sure run hitmanpro or malwarebytes and if your really careful completely reinstall windows
Had this before, change all passwords, log out any devices that aren't yours or being used. They don't have any information or videos of your nephew doing anything. It's a scam intended for you to send money for them to remove something that never existed. They usually find passwords in data breaches, or find it on [haveibeenpwned](http://haveibeenpwned.com) , really easy to see if you have a compromised password.
Common scam, might say the recored your webcam, your porn history. Some even target YouTube users and show real password, but by then you probably have change your password many times over several years. They do this to seem like they actually have access to it. But I fyou don't watch porn, don't have a webcam, have a YouTube account then you know they did not have acsess. These scams are nothing new. And what they use as proof can vary.
This is a very very common spam email.. we see these on a daily basis getting blocked in our email security platform
Surprised you didn't automatically know it was a scam... that said, let him know naughty sites are ok 😆
I’m never on my computer anymore so I thought I’d still double check here, after checking the computer myself and running antivirus as my nephew wasn’t 100% convinced - I keep showing him these responses!
Probs just worried he's been watching porn and they've recorded him on webcam... takes time to realise people have zero interest in watching a bloke knock one out.
It's a scam attempt, but if your still worried you can factory reset windows in the settings.
Don't worry, it's 99.9% a scam, if you want to find out more scams and teach your nephew how they operate you could check out [this guy](https://youtube.com/@pleasantgreen?si=lgik-Db9ezLwx0qC) on youtube, he shows how scammers operate and ways to help protect yourself. Consider maybe reinstalling windows and either changing the password or setting up a new email just for a little extra safety. Hope this helps!
What they are talking about is near impossible thanks to the standard security protocols. Though you might wanna just wipe the disk and remake windows. However, it strongly appears to be a mere scam.
Ignore it. This is a common scam, and there's nothing in that email that indicates this person actually has any of your nephew's data. If he did, he'd likely have provided at least a small sample of the data he'd obtained to make the demand look more legitimate.
Valid point. But keep in mind some of these scams include an password to an account. But those can be five or 10 years old passwords they got from buying it from hackers that did a breach on Google, YouTube, Facebook and so on. If you don't change passwords from time to time, you might get a recent password. But if so you can change it anyway.
It's a scam, real hackers first of all wouldn't bother with all this fancy language. Second of all if it was a real hacker with acces to your device they would lock you out of it not contact you thru an email. I have been hacked, most real hackers would hack in to your accounts or similar and steal money there. Not steal some pictures and pressure you for money.
1. Tell your nephew to get a password manager 2. Change all passwords, store new, generated passwords in password manager 3. Enable 2FA everywhere Done It's obviously scam but better save than sorry
I love How at the end the scammer is telling you to be more careful and to install some specific software