Wife's phone hacked

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quickymart

4688 posts

Uber Geek

# 245113 19-Jan-2019 08:51

Morning,

My wife received an e-mail this morning from her (Orcon) address to her Orcon address. The subject was "Alert e-mail address hacked". It then proceeded to demand money, explaining they had hacked into her account and had her information. The message included her password,which is what concerned about. The jerk who sent her the message is demanding 675 Bitcoin dollars or he will send every picture she has ever taken (he says he logged into her phone to do this) to every contact on her list.

Thing is, her phone has security on - but could this happen? I've told her to change has passwords already. Has anyone else had this?

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455 posts

Ultimate Geek

# 2163556 19-Jan-2019 08:54

2 people support this post

They're scamming. Yes they might have the password or a variant of it but it's from lists that have been purchased or distributed on the "dark net".

Put her email into www.haveibeenpwned.com

and scroll to the bottom to see where the data breaches came from

dfnt

defiant
1031 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

# 2163558 19-Jan-2019 08:57

One person supports this post

It hasn't been hacked

Her account is probably one of many that have been compromised on a website with weak security. Then all said spammer does is send an email with the users password, they've obtained from password lists, hoping they fall for it and send them money.

Just change passwords, and ignore the email. Start using a password manager as well.

You can see where her email has been compromised here https://haveibeenpwned.com/

quickymart

4688 posts

Uber Geek

# 2163559 19-Jan-2019 08:58

This was the e-mail, in case anyone has come across it. She's understandably upset as it contained her password.

Subject

Alert! Email address hacked!

From

Date

Today 06:53

Hey There,

As you have seen from the subject of this message your software has been jeopardized. Read through this COMPLETE message to discover how it occurred and exactly what action to take.

I emailed you this message from your own private mail account as you can tell, this means that i posses complete access to it. I furthermore know that one of several online passwords you applied was <removed> for instance. I will inform you how this occurred.
Some time ago you went to a variety of xxx internet sites, one of those particular xxx sites was contaminated with a backdoor, created by myself. This backdoor mounted automatically on your software, providing me COMPLETE access to all your valuable info, accounts, contacts, and so forth.
You can adjust your online passwords however it won't help you, my backdoor will continuously allow me complete accessibility to your system. Continue on and i will inform you how you can shut down this backdoor.

I have obtained all your contacts, documents, information, and so on. Occasionally i also initiated your video camera and saved various clips and shot some images of you whilst you "amused" yourself observing xxx material... you understand what i mean.

Now you posses two possibilities:

Option one: You dismiss this message and i will forward all the really naughty shots and video clips i posses of you to ALL your contacts, together with ALL information i posses on you. Additionally my backdoor will lock up your system and you will never ever be given the chance to utilize it again! You most likely don't want that, picture the dishonor! So see choice number two.

Option two: I've been monitoring you for a long time now so i need you to pay me. To do this please transfer $675 bitcoins to my bitcoin address: 17D6siXNivrAnPbg1KMqkbxR5ZHqyUCvoJ (copy/paste this, it's case sensitive). In case you don't have clue on how to make use of bitcoins simply make use of any kind of online search engine and query "how to purchase bitcoins". You can purchase bitcoins directly using your debit or credit card on lots of websites.
When you opened up this e-mail my setup triggered a timer. Starting right now you have got eight hrs to complete this transaction. When the transaction doesn't arrive inside this time my setup will immediately trigger choice 1, i suppose you do not want that so generate the transaction quickly enough and my setup will instantly erase all the information, documents, contacts, pics and video clips i posses of you on my machine and the backdoor will instantly be shut and you can go on living your life like this never ever occured.

I didn't focus on you, you checked out the wrong site at the wrong time. I reside in a nation where it is extremely hard to find any work, so i do this to help my family members, consider this as a donation.

Your time is counting!

All the best !.

snnet

455 posts

Ultimate Geek

# 2163560 19-Jan-2019 09:02

One person supports this post

It's them trying their luck. She will likely receive several of these - mine started last year and they're still going

cyril7

7053 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Subscriber

# 2163561 19-Jan-2019 09:03

2 people support this post

Ha it's taken this long for you to get one of those, it's a very common scam, ignore it, and ensure your passwords are updated, especially any account using the credentials claimed in the email.

Cyril

surfisup1000

4394 posts

Uber Geek

# 2163563 19-Jan-2019 09:04

One person supports this post

But, does he mean USD or NZD ha ha.

Seriously though, I agree with the others, it is a scam.

If I were the scammer and it was legit, I'd have attached a couple of the so called embarrassing photos.

[edit] and hand in your ubergeek card on the way out :)

quickymart

4688 posts

Uber Geek

# 2163564 19-Jan-2019 09:09

She is worried that they may have hacked her phone. She doesn't use her laptop as it doesn't work properly - they wouldn't have had access to her phone, surely? Even if she (accidentally) went to a dodgy site on her phone it wouldn't work would it?
She has had all her e-mail stored in Orcon's webmail and I am getting her to remove it as I write this but the hacker wouldn't use it would they?

surfisup1000

4394 posts

Uber Geek

# 2163566 19-Jan-2019 09:11

2 people support this post

quickymart:

She is worried that they may have hacked her phone. She doesn't use her laptop as it doesn't work properly - they wouldn't have had access to her phone, surely? Even if she (accidentally) went to a dodgy site on her phone it wouldn't work would it?
She has had all her e-mail stored in Orcon's webmail and I am getting her to remove it as I write this but the hacker wouldn't use it would they?

They don't have access to anything, don't worry about it.

This is just a 'phishing' attempt.

Here you go, a very similar example..

https://easykey.uk/hoaxes-and-bogus-warnings/hoax-account-issue-hacker-knows-your-email-password

quickymart

4688 posts

Uber Geek

# 2163567 19-Jan-2019 09:13

Her main concern is she stored all of her e-mail in that mailbox and the hacker would have had access to it as well as all of her contacts.

surfisup1000

4394 posts

Uber Geek

# 2163568 19-Jan-2019 09:19

One person supports this post

quickymart:

Her main concern is she stored all of her e-mail in that mailbox and the hacker would have had access to it as well as all of her contacts.

The only thing I'd do, is change the email account password.

The hacker has potentially sent millions of these emails. They will make plenty of money from people who get scared and pay up instantly.

If the hacker really had anything of substance, they'd have attached something to prove their claim. That would get a much higher percentage of those who pay up....of course, they can't , so they don't.

noroad

532 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

# 2163570 19-Jan-2019 09:27

3 people support this post

quickymart:

Her main concern is she stored all of her e-mail in that mailbox and the hacker would have had access to it as well as all of her contacts.

My 2c - change the email password, instruct here to never re-use passwords across services then carry on with life.

marej

152 posts

Master Geek

# 2163578 19-Jan-2019 10:01

noroad:

quickymart:

Her main concern is she stored all of her e-mail in that mailbox and the hacker would have had access to it as well as all of her contacts.

My 2c - change the email password, instruct here to never re-use passwords across services then carry on with life.

I agree. It is hard to have a different password for every site, but at minimum my email, phone and bank passwords are all unique. Definitely a scam.

quickymart

4688 posts

Uber Geek

# 2163581 19-Jan-2019 10:09

I knew it was a scam but I think she wanted a second opinion :)
She was mostly concerned as her cellphone was playing up a few months ago until she cleaned it out and locked it down. She thought it may have been related (but I don't see how they could have backed into her cellphone anyway) - I explained most likely it was just a coincidence but I don't think she was 100% reassured.

Thanks for all the help by the way and that link, very helpful too.

Rikkitic

Lock him up!
10788 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

# 2163594 19-Jan-2019 10:18

One person supports this post

I will add my voice. It is a bluff. I have also had it. Just ignore.

I don't think there is ever a bad time to talk about how absurd war is, how old men make decisions and young people die. - George Clooney

sbiddle

28340 posts

Uber Geek

Moderator

Trusted

Biddle Corp

Lifetime subscriber

# 2163606 19-Jan-2019 10:37

5 people support this post

marej:
noroad:

quickymart:

Her main concern is she stored all of her e-mail in that mailbox and the hacker would have had access to it as well as all of her contacts.

My 2c - change the email password, instruct here to never re-use passwords across services then carry on with life.

I agree. It is hard to have a different password for every site, but at minimum my email, phone and bank passwords are all unique. Definitely a scam.

It isn't hard.. Using unique passwords for each site and service is something that is now essential.

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