Very worrying email

I had this email last year and the password they "knew" was one I used for a family history website. I think you have been given good advice on here but I actually just ignored it and heard no more. It was not the password I generally use. Don't get too worried gillybob.

So sorry to hear of this added stress and worry gillybob - I cant add anything to the above posts but just wanted to send a hug ❤️

The trouble is that if they get into your email account it also infects your contacts.

Gilly I am so sorry this happened to you. Not what you need but listen to everyone - I am sure it is not as bad as you think. I use Google ail and I never even see mails like this as they go straight into Spam.

I am so sorry for you Gillybob, my friend contacted me a couple of days ago, she had exactly the same email, she was both incandescent and extremely upset, it's obviously a common scam. There are some truly horrible people in the world. As others have said, ignore and change your passwords.

It is worrying when this happens. I had one late last year with my ‘lazy’ password - the one I use when it’s a site I’ll probably only visit once and no financial details involved.
The email landed in my junk mail. I deleted it and nothing happened.

I would change all passwords and then run a total scan.

I had this recently, scarily, they had actually got hold of one of my passwords, however, I hadn’t been on any porn sites, so I binned the email, ive had it twice more and I’ve just deleted it.
I’ve now changed all of my passwords, which is a pain as I don’t remember the new ones!

EllanVannin there’s a difference between reading an email and opening a link. Reading is ok and it doesn’t ‘infect’ your account or that of your contacts. Opening a link is the thing that can cause a problem. OP should ignore and delete it.

Gilly,I had several of these emails.Phoned our internet provider who advised it was a well known scam and to change our passwords.x

Thank you for your responses everyone . I was so upset by this horrible email today as I have no one to talk to about it . Didn’t want to upset my DS or DD who have enough on their plates at the moment.

Well I reported it to the ICO, thank you libra10 so let’s hope that’s the end of it. I use a lot of online passwords (mostly work related) so no doubt I will keep remembering others as the days go by.

I never for one moment considered sending them the money as I don’t have even a fraction of what they asked for at my disposal. Why is it that when things are bad some truly awful people take advantage ? What kind of world are we living in ?

@bathsheba is quite correct. Delete the email, change your passwords, and move on.

I have had this email too, load of cobblers, binned it. They send out thousands of scams, if only a tiny percentage react it is still lucrative for the criminals.
One good thing about the lockdown is we have not had one scam phone call thus depriving DH of his ability to question the callers parentage.

Report it (and any other scam. dodgy emails etc) to:

[email protected]

who will look into it.

Change your passwords and let all of your contacts know too, as these vile people may have hijacked your contacts list.

If you haven't done anything they say, don't worry. Even if you had, don't worry.

These emails are designed to scare you into paying. I had one with part of a very old password if it was the full password I wasn't worried as it wouldn't have any personal details on that site.

Several sites have been hacked and the passwords and usernames/emails sold on the internet.

Very important..... Change your passwords regularly. A pain is you register to many sites, but at least these vile people will only have old useless passwords.

Delete it, change your passwords just in case, then forget about it

I had the same thing a few days ago although I am fairly sure it’s an old password. After discussion with DH I deleted it. I also went through my ‘junk mail’ and made sure I ‘blocked’ all the rubbish in there. So far so good ?

All these emails are fraudulent. It will be true that your password has been breached, and you should stop using it. But the rest is just scare stuff to con people out of money. I’ve ignored lots of them. Nothing has happened. The password that was compromised was one I only use for sites where it doesn’t really matter. Above all, make sure you use a strong password for your email account, and don’t use it for anything else. If anyone cracks your email, you are in real trouble.

Change THAT password wherever you have used it. (I'm a one password per site gal, but I know not everyone is). Block the email address, by hovering over the little bin in preview pane - right click and among the options is block sender - that's the one. Use preview pane to pre-view all your emails - then you will NEVER open one of these. If anything dubious pops up in the preview pane - hover over the sender bit - often shows really strange domain names (Russian, Chinese, N Korean). As you surmise they have not got all your contacts, they have not seen you on any porny sites etc - they are trying to frighten you for the purpose of extortion. Keep calm and Carry on!

I get these almost every week from someone new. I read the first one in awe!

Firstly, to think I’m confident enough to visit a porn website and secondly to think I could get into some of the positions I’m supposed to have got into on the webcam!

With a spine injury, arthritis and fibromyalgia, I would LOVE to be able to put my legs over my head and smile into the camera

As it stands, I can barely get out of bed in the morning let alone perform naked acrobats for a webcam! The only puffing and panting they’d get is me trying to get my wonky pins moving.

I change my password and delete the emails, didn’t know you could report to the ISO but I’ll do that in future.

The fact that you haven't accessed anything remotely porn like should be a huge clue that they don't know anything about you or your use of a computer. They send thousands of these emails out to lists of email adddresses - did you know that many reputable businesses sell on their lists of customers emails to other companies? No wonder these scammers exist. Some people (presumably those who do use on line porn sites) pay up without question and that is what they rely on. Delete the email, block the sender, ignore any further messages (if any) and go to any sites you are on and change your password for additional security. I usually use one specific email address when I am asked for a contact email address by stores etc - there is no reason why you can't have several email addresses to use - so if I get these spam messages on that I have a pretty good idea where they might have got my details from.

My husband got one and we ignored it. Do nothing.
They randomly generate these emails hoping to provoke a response.

I received same email few weeks back. I just ignored it. Nothing else seems to have happened since

And inform police.

I think it would have me panicking, makes me think I should be deleting a lot of unwanted contacts!