In reply to a post by iefbr14:

Chippy_Tea_ - not everyone may be as IT literate as yourself, unfortunately not everyone is as IT literate as would be ideal. These scammers would not be in business if they weren't making money from somewhere, which would imply that some people are paying up.

I think they are just chancers and are probably making next to no money we still get the "we have found a problem with your PC" call occasionally i doubt there are many internet users left who haven't heard of that scam yet they keep plugging away, i guess like addicted gamblers they keep going as tomorrow they might find the one person left who hasn't heard of the scam and they finally get their big payday.

In reply to a post by MrSaffron:

This is a widespread scam and not targeting old Pipex customers specifically

The lists of email and passwords appear to be fairly old

I agree with you there; in all probability anyone with an email address will eventually receive a similar email. Judgements are clouded with apparent consequences if action is not taken immediately and far from a few being taken in, there are probably thousands paying up. Then there is the shame factor coming into play by not seeking advice from a friend because you don't wish to admit that porn has been viewed.

If you have a nagging feeling that you need to research this matter with Google, what exactly would a novice user use a search term that would bring up a definitive response that doesn't set off a knee jerk response which in the majority of cases is completely unnecessary?


IMHO opinion the following is worth adhering to:
� NOT to pay out anything;
� In no circumstance NOT to respond to the (blackmail) email;
� Ensure your router and connected devices are fully patched;
� Switch to an anti-virus product that has a good reputation that does what it says on the tin;
� Deep scan the computer to remove nasties that WILL be found. To do this you may need to seek a source/organisation that will do the task for you. DIY tools are not good enough!
� Start to break away from using ISP provided email address(es).
� Use a password generator to create strong passwords.

Feel free to add to this listing

Might I suggest that those how want to watch porn learn how to make their own blind-fold >>


How to make a Blindfold - MaskCraft
www.maskcraft.com/how-to-make-a-blindfold/

I received one too, the username and password quoted being what I last used at Pipex more than a decade ago (can't recall if it was just before or just after the Tiscali 'takeover' )

The last time I checked the Bitcoin account mentioned in the email has had numerous credits around the £850 mark and so some people appear to be paying up.

Scary how gullible people can be to these scams

I've had lots of these over the past few weeks.

There are two versions of the scam, one that is saying they have hacked your account and the other more recent one displays a password.

What is interesting is the emails are being sent to the default email we got from Pipex (the one with the random letters and numbers before the @ sign) and also to the name I custom set.

Both these emails as far as I know haven't been compromised. I checked them on the site someone listed earlier in the thread and nothing comes up.

it will be a system where that email and password combination has been used, possibly not registered that it has been compromised. In my case the password suggested in the email has no relation to pipex at all. Has made me realise it�s just time to close down that account.

In reply to a post by Chippy_Tea_:

In reply to a post by iefbr14:

Chippy_Tea_ - not everyone may be as IT literate as yourself, unfortunately not everyone is as IT literate as would be ideal. These scammers would not be in business if they weren't making money from somewhere, which would imply that some people are paying up.

I think they are just chancers and are probably making next to no money

Couldn't be further from the truth unfortunately.
These emails have bitcoin address links for £ to be sent to.
These are all publicly searchable.

A few of these have been posted over on kitz and every single bitcoin link I've checked has had multiple transactions, usually £800-£900 deposited at a time.

They wouldn't keep sending them if people didn't pay.

In reply to a post by j0hn83:

In reply to a post by Chippy_Tea_:

In reply to a post by iefbr14:

Chippy_Tea_ - not everyone may be as IT literate as yourself, unfortunately not everyone is as IT literate as would be ideal. These scammers would not be in business if they weren't making money from somewhere, which would imply that some people are paying up.

I think they are just chancers and are probably making next to no money

Couldn't be further from the truth unfortunately.
These emails have bitcoin address links for £ to be sent to.
These are all publicly searchable.

A few of these have been posted over on kitz and every single bitcoin link I've checked has had multiple transactions, usually £800-£900 deposited at a time.

They wouldn't keep sending them if people didn't pay.

Oh well if they are stupid enough to pay before using google to search the subject of the scam they deserve everything they get.

+1

It is a very cleverly worded email which is giving a nice income stream to one or more people. The chances of the benefices ever being caught is next to zero. I predict this scam is just going to keep running for several years.