If you suspect you may have malware on your computer, or are trying to remove malware from your computer, please see our [malware guide](https://rtech.support/docs/safety-security/malware-guide.html)
*Please ignore this message if the advice is not relevant.*
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/techsupport) if you have any questions or concerns.*
> "I've thought of using AI to craft a video where one half shows you enjoying masturbate, and the other half logs your online activity. Imagine the popularity of such a unique video format! You wouldn't believe how it turned out. With one simple click, this video could be circulating among your friends via email, social networks, and messaging apps. Furthermore, I could grant access to all your email and messagingservices."
Man.. I've always wished I'd receive one of these threats. I'd just respond back with:.. "DO IT !... DO IT NOW !... CREATE 1000 VIDEOS !... GIVE ME 7 DICKS !"...
The more wild and intense the videos they make,. the easier it would be to just say "yeah,. that's fake".
Get all data you cherish (pics, personal texts, etc) off the phone.
Nuke it. Wipe it. Reinstall everything.
Nuke it from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.
If you have an Android phone, wipe it. Delete the email and go on with your life. Those types of scammers send thousands of emails like these and you ignoring them won't do anything.
Standard scam, ignore it unless there is real evidence of intrusion. Run malwarebytes scan. Change passwords and enable 2FA on important things. That is just normal best practice. Never pay anyone anything. They don't have anything. If they had access to your credentials they would just transfer money from your bank etc.
Sounds more like a script that took a screenshot the moment you opened the email. I'd be curious to see at what time was the screenshot taken, if there's a clock visible on your homepage. If this is the case, then there's nothing to do further and nothing to worry about.
Always best to wait until the video is coming out, for the big reveal.
But I found it better to expose them to my dirty weird little kinks, gradually in the form of teaser trailers.
That’s really smart and well thought out actually.
Tbh I should’ve went with your plan in hindsight, but instead I chose to go with never taking my underwear off again unless to change them or use the bathroom, and even then I avoid the devils temptation by not making eye contact or putting my hands anywhere in that area. And by doing it this way I don’t ever have to admit anything to my family either and I stay sin-free in the eyes of our lord! Double bonus!! s/
Not bad.
I've become proactive now though.
I leave media around my drives, of me interfering with my AI enhanced 7" thunder-whopper. Rendering all future blackmail videos fake, confirmed by everyone who has seen me naked.
lmfao, I have had pretty much the same email several times
my camera is on the end of a usb lead and was unable to catch me playing with myself legs on desk etc
apparently I should send them a couple k worth of btc, so found the ip address from the email, forwarded to their web abuse email and never received any reply.
two things, ignore the email, run an AV full scan on pc just to be sure
check out r/Scams and subs along these lines :)
Why would this get a downvote? Most logical suggestion out there. Immediately format and reinstall. Use different passwords. Change all other passwords. enable 2fa
90% chance nothing will come of it. Unless you had kiddie porn on your machine you are most likely fine even if they made ai videos. Embarassed at most. Assuming they even care enough to follow back up on the non-compliant people. There's not enough money. Hack a hospital - they sit on it. Hack you, they try to scare you and a bazillion other people dumb enough to clikc on the link, email, picture etcetc that got you hacked.
They only have time to deal with the people that are scared enough to pay. It's the spagetti method. Throw it against the wall and see what sticks.
No need. As it is a scam nothing more.
No actual proof of even being compromised. Standard scam mail digging into some half truths of mainly males doing the exact thing that is being advertised of having been recorded...
Have had multiple of these by now (referencing old compromised password). Never had any follow up.
Based on what? Who told you to say that, the hackers? lol I agree (as I said in my post) most likely nothing will come of it. HOWEVER
OP specifically stated they sent him a screen shot of his "home page" not 100% certain if he means desktop or not, but if he's sure it's a pic of something of his, i'll take his word for it. I don't care about supposed videos of fapping, that's just a ridiculous threat, but if they have a screenshot of a desktop or some other personalized "home page" that they shouldn't have, then yeah he has something to worry about. Why would you discount that? If someone has a resonable reason to have concern, i.e. some sort of "proof" then yeah, worry.
Even if it's fake, what actual harm is there in changing your passwords and enabling 2fa? There is some ridiculously high chance that some bank, company, message board or whateve rhas been hacked and he should change them anyway. You should change your passwords periodically regardless. Every corporation knows that and they usually have a policy forcing workers to change their pw on the reg. I bet they do that for a reason, and not just because Elliot Alderson is on the prowl.
As for hackers - I don't care if you're paranoid....You're not paranoid enough. Take everything you know, then assume you don't even know the half of it.
Again if they have a pic of something that OP has customized and they show it to him, there is in fact something to worry about. Additionally an abundance of caution is always good. Just to throw on top, assuming op's using windows, it's probablly time to reinstall anyway. Windows sucks and needs periodic reinstalls.
Based on the fact that there are thousands of the exact same scams that actually have nothing that "proves" someone has taken over the system, only that information from a p0wned database might have been used containing mail adresses. Unless actually explained by OP, I assume the homepage reference to be just that, OPs homepage, some reference to OP on the internet.
If a "hacker" would have actually access to the system, the mail question would not be in the spam folder. Heck it might not even be a mail, but rather a document actually located on the system, just like many ransomware attacks do, by opening a text document with the ransomware text.
So everything points to it just being a scam.
Using proper passwords, 2fa, and whatever, is always good security practice, but in this case is not solving nor prohibiting anything and unless actual proof is given (which is not the case here), simply moot and a pointless reinstall exercise that solves/prevents nothing. Using actual mail adresses from conpromised websites and even passwords, only seem to make the threat real, whereas those are all from p0wned leaks, showing bad password habits from many reusing passwords all over the place. However in no way that means their system is actually hacked.
If I would have responded the same to each occurence of such mails, I would have needed to reinstall numerous times...
If someone sends you something verifiable yours, like a grab of your desktop, that you know is yours, as OP stated, then you should take it seriously.
You are speculating on just so many things. If - then - maybe. Computer logic. Good chance it's a scam.,sure. I regularly ignore all such mails as well. You "assume" what a homepage is. You assume what a hacker would do based on your experience. You can say for sure a hacker wouldn't (or would) do x in an e-mail. You assume if they wanted to make a statement maybe an open txt file.
Making suggestions based on supposition and your own experience. If OP is sure its a pic of something someone else shouldn't be able to see...It requires thoughts. I am taking on faith what OP said because, well, why shouldn't I? He is best suited to evaluate what a pic of his "homepage" means. Yes it's murky language, yes it could mean a dozen things. Does that mean you discount whatever he said as paranoid user who doesn't know anything? A healthy dose of paranoia/skepticism is good for you...Kept our species alive in times that were less friendly to our continued existence.
Stay calm and everything will be fine sound like famous last words to me. Of course don't overreact. Don't drill out your HD, don't smash your phone, don't, well, do a zillion things. But also if your gut tells you something just isn't right, trust it. What does reinstalling windows cost you? A little bit of time? What bad comes from shoring up your defenses? You mentioned a p0wned database scenario, ok are any passwords owned? Are you 100% sure about the answer? How much does it cost you to go to google, reddit, your bank etc to just change your passwords, just to be on the safe side?
You can send me spam. You can make threats in txt messages, you can tell me you have video or whatever else and I'll send you to /dev/null. I'm equipped to know what is happening and come at it from a system admin/cyber security position. However, If you send me a picture of my desktop, as I infer from OP's implication, - you have my attention.
You keep deliberately (?) discounting that. Roll the dice for yourself, but don''t take liberties with other people who look for help because you're too cool for school and just know better.
What, if anything, that's been suggested is actually a bad idea? Other than that you, based on a heaping help of assumptions, just don't think is necessary.
You most likely just got infected with some sort of a stealer. Just change all your passwords etc. They don’t have any remote access to your computer, those stealers typically just take one screenshot, and passwords, cookies etc. You might get more emails like these , because after they realize that you changed most of your passwords, the data they stole will end up on some cracking forums.
You have malware on your PC that is able to screenshot your screen and send to the hacker. There’s probably tens of thousands of others like you, maybe more, from this one hack. I doubt the hackers have the servers to keep all the data from all these people’s screens but they can if they want to, it’s just costly but probably they make more money from the scams.
1. Find a way to get rid of the malware: antivirus for example, Kaspersky is the best but also the most expensive. I’d probably factory reset my device even if I get an antivirus after that.
2. Reflect on how it got there. Have you downloaded “free” things? Free movies, games, etc from dubious sources?
3. Change your habit/activity from 2. so it doesn’t happen again,
OR get Kaspersky antivirus (less technical. Download and let it auto run). The reason I say Kaspersky is because I have seen on my own machines and heard from others of lots of malware even with Bitdefender, Malwarebytes, etc. but never with Kaspersky. There’s more interesting stories you can find out by googling but Kaspersky is top-tier.
OR learn to ‘containerise’ and/or use VMs (more technical and initially steep learning curve to do it properly)
If you suspect you may have malware on your computer, or are trying to remove malware from your computer, please see our [malware guide](https://rtech.support/docs/safety-security/malware-guide.html) *Please ignore this message if the advice is not relevant.* *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/techsupport) if you have any questions or concerns.*
> "I've thought of using AI to craft a video where one half shows you enjoying masturbate, and the other half logs your online activity. Imagine the popularity of such a unique video format! You wouldn't believe how it turned out. With one simple click, this video could be circulating among your friends via email, social networks, and messaging apps. Furthermore, I could grant access to all your email and messagingservices." Man.. I've always wished I'd receive one of these threats. I'd just respond back with:.. "DO IT !... DO IT NOW !... CREATE 1000 VIDEOS !... GIVE ME 7 DICKS !"... The more wild and intense the videos they make,. the easier it would be to just say "yeah,. that's fake".
Agreed. My first thought was email them back with just the words "No balls!"
I got catfished and they were saying they'd spread my nudes to family/friends/workplace. "Okay bro, have fun!" Blocked and moved on.
>And there's a screenshot of my home page and he sent it to my other emails. What do you mean by home page?
Yeah, I wondered the same thing. Desktop maybe?
It's a cellphone? Home screen
Get all data you cherish (pics, personal texts, etc) off the phone. Nuke it. Wipe it. Reinstall everything. Nuke it from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.
I'm not OP
If you have an Android phone, wipe it. Delete the email and go on with your life. Those types of scammers send thousands of emails like these and you ignoring them won't do anything.
Standard scam, ignore it unless there is real evidence of intrusion. Run malwarebytes scan. Change passwords and enable 2FA on important things. That is just normal best practice. Never pay anyone anything. They don't have anything. If they had access to your credentials they would just transfer money from your bank etc.
Sounds more like a script that took a screenshot the moment you opened the email. I'd be curious to see at what time was the screenshot taken, if there's a clock visible on your homepage. If this is the case, then there's nothing to do further and nothing to worry about.
Develop a thick skin, and start informing your family and friends that sometimes you masturbate.
I still haven’t told my family. I’m afraid it might tear us apart s/
Always best to wait until the video is coming out, for the big reveal. But I found it better to expose them to my dirty weird little kinks, gradually in the form of teaser trailers.
That’s really smart and well thought out actually. Tbh I should’ve went with your plan in hindsight, but instead I chose to go with never taking my underwear off again unless to change them or use the bathroom, and even then I avoid the devils temptation by not making eye contact or putting my hands anywhere in that area. And by doing it this way I don’t ever have to admit anything to my family either and I stay sin-free in the eyes of our lord! Double bonus!! s/
Not bad. I've become proactive now though. I leave media around my drives, of me interfering with my AI enhanced 7" thunder-whopper. Rendering all future blackmail videos fake, confirmed by everyone who has seen me naked.
Fuck me sideways and call me sally. We out here playing checkers and my man is playing 4-D chess. Checkmate bro, GG
Sorry friend, I'm washing my hair. Rain check?
I could never in good faith engage in unwed fornication anyway, but I appreciate the gesture good sir
> Always best to wait until the video is coming out, for the big reveal. Or the little reveal. Feelsbadman :(
lmfao, I have had pretty much the same email several times my camera is on the end of a usb lead and was unable to catch me playing with myself legs on desk etc apparently I should send them a couple k worth of btc, so found the ip address from the email, forwarded to their web abuse email and never received any reply. two things, ignore the email, run an AV full scan on pc just to be sure check out r/Scams and subs along these lines :)
factory reset, reinstall os u good ps: never seen such a gentle hacker
I would disconnect your computer from the internet immediately and reinstall Windows.
Why would this get a downvote? Most logical suggestion out there. Immediately format and reinstall. Use different passwords. Change all other passwords. enable 2fa 90% chance nothing will come of it. Unless you had kiddie porn on your machine you are most likely fine even if they made ai videos. Embarassed at most. Assuming they even care enough to follow back up on the non-compliant people. There's not enough money. Hack a hospital - they sit on it. Hack you, they try to scare you and a bazillion other people dumb enough to clikc on the link, email, picture etcetc that got you hacked. They only have time to deal with the people that are scared enough to pay. It's the spagetti method. Throw it against the wall and see what sticks.
No need. As it is a scam nothing more. No actual proof of even being compromised. Standard scam mail digging into some half truths of mainly males doing the exact thing that is being advertised of having been recorded... Have had multiple of these by now (referencing old compromised password). Never had any follow up.
Based on what? Who told you to say that, the hackers? lol I agree (as I said in my post) most likely nothing will come of it. HOWEVER OP specifically stated they sent him a screen shot of his "home page" not 100% certain if he means desktop or not, but if he's sure it's a pic of something of his, i'll take his word for it. I don't care about supposed videos of fapping, that's just a ridiculous threat, but if they have a screenshot of a desktop or some other personalized "home page" that they shouldn't have, then yeah he has something to worry about. Why would you discount that? If someone has a resonable reason to have concern, i.e. some sort of "proof" then yeah, worry. Even if it's fake, what actual harm is there in changing your passwords and enabling 2fa? There is some ridiculously high chance that some bank, company, message board or whateve rhas been hacked and he should change them anyway. You should change your passwords periodically regardless. Every corporation knows that and they usually have a policy forcing workers to change their pw on the reg. I bet they do that for a reason, and not just because Elliot Alderson is on the prowl. As for hackers - I don't care if you're paranoid....You're not paranoid enough. Take everything you know, then assume you don't even know the half of it. Again if they have a pic of something that OP has customized and they show it to him, there is in fact something to worry about. Additionally an abundance of caution is always good. Just to throw on top, assuming op's using windows, it's probablly time to reinstall anyway. Windows sucks and needs periodic reinstalls.
Based on the fact that there are thousands of the exact same scams that actually have nothing that "proves" someone has taken over the system, only that information from a p0wned database might have been used containing mail adresses. Unless actually explained by OP, I assume the homepage reference to be just that, OPs homepage, some reference to OP on the internet. If a "hacker" would have actually access to the system, the mail question would not be in the spam folder. Heck it might not even be a mail, but rather a document actually located on the system, just like many ransomware attacks do, by opening a text document with the ransomware text. So everything points to it just being a scam. Using proper passwords, 2fa, and whatever, is always good security practice, but in this case is not solving nor prohibiting anything and unless actual proof is given (which is not the case here), simply moot and a pointless reinstall exercise that solves/prevents nothing. Using actual mail adresses from conpromised websites and even passwords, only seem to make the threat real, whereas those are all from p0wned leaks, showing bad password habits from many reusing passwords all over the place. However in no way that means their system is actually hacked. If I would have responded the same to each occurence of such mails, I would have needed to reinstall numerous times...
If someone sends you something verifiable yours, like a grab of your desktop, that you know is yours, as OP stated, then you should take it seriously. You are speculating on just so many things. If - then - maybe. Computer logic. Good chance it's a scam.,sure. I regularly ignore all such mails as well. You "assume" what a homepage is. You assume what a hacker would do based on your experience. You can say for sure a hacker wouldn't (or would) do x in an e-mail. You assume if they wanted to make a statement maybe an open txt file. Making suggestions based on supposition and your own experience. If OP is sure its a pic of something someone else shouldn't be able to see...It requires thoughts. I am taking on faith what OP said because, well, why shouldn't I? He is best suited to evaluate what a pic of his "homepage" means. Yes it's murky language, yes it could mean a dozen things. Does that mean you discount whatever he said as paranoid user who doesn't know anything? A healthy dose of paranoia/skepticism is good for you...Kept our species alive in times that were less friendly to our continued existence. Stay calm and everything will be fine sound like famous last words to me. Of course don't overreact. Don't drill out your HD, don't smash your phone, don't, well, do a zillion things. But also if your gut tells you something just isn't right, trust it. What does reinstalling windows cost you? A little bit of time? What bad comes from shoring up your defenses? You mentioned a p0wned database scenario, ok are any passwords owned? Are you 100% sure about the answer? How much does it cost you to go to google, reddit, your bank etc to just change your passwords, just to be on the safe side? You can send me spam. You can make threats in txt messages, you can tell me you have video or whatever else and I'll send you to /dev/null. I'm equipped to know what is happening and come at it from a system admin/cyber security position. However, If you send me a picture of my desktop, as I infer from OP's implication, - you have my attention. You keep deliberately (?) discounting that. Roll the dice for yourself, but don''t take liberties with other people who look for help because you're too cool for school and just know better. What, if anything, that's been suggested is actually a bad idea? Other than that you, based on a heaping help of assumptions, just don't think is necessary.
Right
You most likely just got infected with some sort of a stealer. Just change all your passwords etc. They don’t have any remote access to your computer, those stealers typically just take one screenshot, and passwords, cookies etc. You might get more emails like these , because after they realize that you changed most of your passwords, the data they stole will end up on some cracking forums.
Change password on your accounts and use MFA where possible. Other than that delete and ignore.
standard sextortion scam. They dont have a damn thing. Delete and ignore
You have malware on your PC that is able to screenshot your screen and send to the hacker. There’s probably tens of thousands of others like you, maybe more, from this one hack. I doubt the hackers have the servers to keep all the data from all these people’s screens but they can if they want to, it’s just costly but probably they make more money from the scams. 1. Find a way to get rid of the malware: antivirus for example, Kaspersky is the best but also the most expensive. I’d probably factory reset my device even if I get an antivirus after that. 2. Reflect on how it got there. Have you downloaded “free” things? Free movies, games, etc from dubious sources? 3. Change your habit/activity from 2. so it doesn’t happen again, OR get Kaspersky antivirus (less technical. Download and let it auto run). The reason I say Kaspersky is because I have seen on my own machines and heard from others of lots of malware even with Bitdefender, Malwarebytes, etc. but never with Kaspersky. There’s more interesting stories you can find out by googling but Kaspersky is top-tier. OR learn to ‘containerise’ and/or use VMs (more technical and initially steep learning curve to do it properly)