Email attempted to blackmail me

I got one of those about a month ago. It did not state my password correctly. Its accusations of having webcam footage of "me pleasuring myself in front of my computer" (to put it delicately) were laughably false. Not only have I not done that, but I build my own computers and install my own software, and have never bothered to connect any sort of camera to my computer.

I concluded that it was a bluff threat that was sent out en masse to a large number of people, in the hopes that a few people would panic and send money.

I guess it is possible that I made a nonsense password at some site that I didn't care about and forgot about almost immediately. If I forgot the existence of the site and password, then it would stand to reason that I don't remember it. But how would I ever be able to tell it if was "forgetfulness" verses "the site having never existed"?

At any rate, the password that the email gave was not the password that I use at a2k.

Nor was it the password that I use at the other place that you see me on the rare occasions that I've been suspended here.

I am thinking it is facebook but it could had been any of three current sites or for that matter a old site from my past as my low security password was correctly shown an of course connected to my email address.

Damn it however the password was long enough and not one that would show up in a list of the worst passwords that a up to date hashing function should had been protection from a normal brute force attack.

That one of the reason I think if might be facebook as anyone with a list of passwords that gotten them off facebook are more likely to have the hardware to get the passwords by brute forcing the hashs.

I think if this were FB you would be hearing a lot of screaming. Honestly, same for A2K, you would have other members here with the same story. I'm wondering if someone put a keystroke logger on your computer. Facebook knows a lot about you, but I doubt they have your browser history.

I have said this before....anyone who is not using two-factor authentication for their email account is being foolish. Most of the email providers have this. It involves another step to login to your email, you have to type in a temporary code (mine is 4 digits) from your cellphone.

Your email is important... it is used for everything from banking, to accounts etc. etc. If someone with bad intentions finds your email password, they can mess up your life in any number of ways.

You also should have different passwords for any high security site and not reuse them. Using your bank password for able2know is asking for trouble.

All my important accounts have very long and completely separate passwords contain in an encrypt file and that include my email accounts.

I do cheerfully used the same password for my less 'important accounts such as this one and my facebook and so on accounts.

Annoying me is all anyone can do with gaining access to my facebook that I rarely used or any of the other accounts that I used a common password to.

Max Dancona used the same password for all of his accounts including his able2know account. You may have noticed that a couple of years ago his posts got more intelligent.

My would be blackmailer does not have my browser history either and it is highly unlikely that anyone could get through my layers of defenses to place a keylogger on any of my computers.

When they are not up an working and with me normally in front of them the hard drives are completely encrypted for one thing.

Ask if they have a link you visited 3 months ago because you liked it a lot and have not been able to find it again...

Another option was that they set up a website or a spoof of a website and you joined it.

I suspect that it is related to one of these security breaches that you hear about on the news. Like I said, I got one of these emails about a month ago, although in my case it was no password that I ever remember using.

Someone probably got ahold of the data from one of the breaches, and is now sending the same generic blackmail threat to all of the email addresses.