Here is a recent email that I received from a “hacker” that was threatening to expose some secrets. It was an obvious fake email, but I wanted to take the time to educate on how to know a fake when you receive one:
Hacker Email Exposed
Strange Email Address: This email comes from “auf@cesco.com.br” which is an address unknown to me and the domain itself ends in BR which stands for Brazil which again I don’t do business in Brazil so why would someone from there be emailing me.
Poor English: It starts out with the over-friendly greeting and continues with “I hack your computer” then just doesn’t stop. This was likely something typed into Google Translate then pasted into an email.
They Have Everything: Unless you really have something to hide, then this should not scare you. You need to assume that anything that you post online is public information anyways – there are no secrets on Facebook.
Invalid Help: They offer to help with acquiring Bitcoin to pay them in then offer a site to find local ATMs that have this feature. They have no understanding of the area or what local banking services are available. If they know everything about me then they know where I live and could easily look up the local economic structure.
Internet Extortion: They are using extortion tactics to try and scare me into action. They are trying to “sell” me information security for $120, but if I gave into their demands then my email address would become an even more valuable asset as they would have someone they could regularly extort for funds.
What To Do
- Unless you have something to hide, ignore the threats. If you do have something to hide then I suggest you quit so that no one can have anything against you.
- Forward these emails to me. Include the “header” information by copying it from the File > Properties menu in Outlook as this will help to track down where they are from.
- Farmhouse Networking will alert the proper authorities about the malicious activity to help shut these scammers down.
If your company is receiving tons of SPAM or hacker email, then contact us for assistance.