- So! And he gave me several days, assuring me that he knew exactly when I read the letter: it allegedly contained a “special pixel” that allowed them to track that the letter had been read.
- Aha! Of course, if you pay, they promise to immediately destroy the video and the contact database of your relatives and friends.
- Yes, how do you know?
- Do you think you're the only one so smart? Calm down, no one was filming you! In fact, neither the all-powerful "virus" nor the shameful video exist in nature.
- But how does he know my password?
— It’s all very simple: the extortionist uses one of algeria whatsapp data many databases sold on the darknet, which contain accounts and passwords leaked from various Internet services.
- So, nothing happened?
— I'm not sure about that! Recently, scammers have come up with an even more effective way to make you pay: they offer the victim to personally verify the existence of the video, without involving friends. To do this, just follow the link in the letter. Naturally, if you do this, you won't find any video. Instead, you'll be offered to download a ZIP archive — but if you unpack it and run it, you'll infect your system for real.
- Study! You could have asked your uncle, he is also a security officer.
- It's shameful!
— What? You haven't done anything wrong! Remember what you definitely shouldn't do. First of all, don't panic and under no circumstances pay the extortionists! Don't respond to the extortion letter — that will only show that your address is valid, and such "business offers" will come more often. And don't click on the links in such letters: there's nothing good there. At best, you'll be inundated with ads, at worst, you'll download a virus.
— I know what I'm going to do now. I'll change the password sent in the extortionists' letter. I'll get a reliable antivirus and update it regularly. I'll try to be more careful. And isn't it better to ask someone who knows?