ALERT! I'm hacked you and stolen you information

[Teknophobe]

I received the below email 3 days ago and have followed all of the instructions at https://www.virginmedia.com/help/security/why-is-my-virgin-media-email-hacked

(I've removed the password and my email address from the below mail  but the password was correct!!!? the email was sent to me from my own email address 😞 ).  I've also forwarded the mail to report phishing at uk gov etc

I've scanned my computer - no malware found, no forwarding instructions ... so how the hell did they get hold of my password?? None of my non VM accounts (with different passwords)  have been hacked (so far).  I know VM had a security breach in 2020 but claimed no passwords were stolen. If they didnt get my password from me .. and I dont think they did, they must have got it from VM?  Fortunately, no damage (so far)  - have you seen anything like this before?

Thanks

Teknophobe

Date: 01 May 2030 at 08:15
Subject: ALERT! I'm hacked you and stolen you information

Hey

I have to share bad news with you.

Approximately few months ago I have gained access to your devices, which you use for internet browsing.
After that, I have started tracking your internet activities.
Some time ago I hacked you and got access to your email accounts

address deleted
Obviously, I have easily hack to log in to your email.

Your password: (deleted)

One week later, I have already installed Trojan virus to Operating Systems of all the devices that you use to access your email.
In fact, it was not really hard at all (since you were following the links from your inbox emails).
All ingenious is simple. 😃
This software provides me with access to all the controllers of your devices (e.g., your microphone, video camera and keyboard).
I have downloaded all your information, data, photos, web browsing history to my servers.
I have access to all your messengers, social networks, emails, chat history and contacts list.
My virus continuously refreshes the signatures (it is driver-based), and hence remains invisible for antivirus software.

Likewise, I guess by now you understand why I have stayed undetected until this letter...

While gathering information about you, I have discovered that you are a big fan of adult websites.
You really love visiting porn websites and watching exciting videos, while enduring an enormous amount of pleasure.
Well, I have managed to record a number of your dirty scenes and montaged a few videos, which show the way you **bleep** and reach orgasms.

If you have doubts, I can make a few clicks of my mouse and all your videos will be shared to your friends, colleagues and relatives.
I have also no issue at all to make them available for public access.
I guess, you really don't want that to happen, considering the specificity of the videos you like to watch, (you perfectly know what I mean) it will cause a true catastrophe for you.

Let's settle it this way:
You transfer $400 USD to me (in bitcoin equivalent according to the exchange rate at the moment of funds transfer), and once the transfer is received, I will delete all this dirty stuff right away.
After that we will forget about each other. I also promise to deactivate and delete all the harmful software from your devices. Trust me, I keep my word.

This is a fair deal and the price is quite low, considering that I have been checking out your profile and traffic for some time by now.
In case, if you don't know how to purchase and transfer the bitcoins - you can use any modern search engine.

Here is my bitcoin wallet: bc1qc7uw3ll3zj83c0jk5cryduns6f3rlju3ac4v6p

Things you need to avoid from doing:
*Do not reply me (I have created this email inside your inbox and generated the return address).
*Do not try to contact police and other security services. In addition, forget about telling this to you friends. If I discover that (as you can see, it is really not so hard, considering that I control all your systems) - your video will be shared to public right away.
*Don't try to find me - it is absolutely pointless. All the cryptocurrency transactions are anonymous.
*Don't try to reinstall the OS on your devices or throw them away. It is pointless as well, since all the videos have already been saved at remote servers.

Things you don't need to worry about:
*That I won't be able to receive your funds transfer.
- Don't worry, I will see it right away, once you complete the transfer, since I continuously track all your activities (my trojan virus has got a remote-control feature, something like TeamViewer).
*That I will share your videos anyway after you complete the funds transfer.
- Trust me, I have no point to continue creating troubles in your life. If I really wanted that, I would do it long time ago!

Everything will be done in a fair manner!

One more thing... Don't get caught in similar kind of situations anymore in future!
My advice - keep changing all your passwords on a frequent basis

[Steven_L]

Hey shibble,

Welcome to the community and thanks for taking the time to post here on the forums, I'm sorry you've not joined in better circumstances. 

I would be happy to take a further look into this for you but first I would need to confirm a few details via private message, please look out for my message and we can get started.
Kind Regards,
Steven_L

[Pj101]

@Bossman2

I also received this message today.

Like you state, could this be an insider, as the email I use dates back to 1998 the old virgin.net.

I would be interested to know if all the people that have received this threat message, have been in touch with VM before the message? I had reason to contact VM a couple of months ago, and found their help as good as useless. Reason being, my email account is the old virgin.net, which they had NO idea what I was talking about.

Perhaps if the message has been sent to users that have been in contact with VM, then another route to follow!

[Ashleigh_C]

Hi there @Pj101 

Thank you so much for you post and welcome back to the forums it's great to have you here. 

I am so sorry that you have faced this issue regarding a concerning email. It does sound as though this was a phishing email. You can view more about these email here. 

Thank you

[shibble]

Hello Steven.

We have now returned home from holiday and my wife (shibblewife) and i hope that you can regain our original email accounts. My original email is [MOD EDIT: Personal info] and that is the one that i want reinstating. My wifes email account is [MOD EDIT: Personal info] but now she is unable to log in to this account.

Kind regards

Ian

[Ashleigh_C]

Hi there @shibble 

Thank you so much for your post and welcome back.

We have had to edit this post as we do not recommend posting personal information via the forums. I'll be happy to take a look into this with you however via a PM. 

I will pop you a PM across now, please keep an eye out for the purple envelope in the top right corner of your screen alerting you to a new message. 
 

[Maistab]

Omg I discovered this had happened to me three days ago!!! Do you have any further information!?? Cannot regain control of my Facebook...be interesting to know if it is same email address that hacker is now using on my Facebook as yours!!

[Maistab]

The email address that is now on my Facebook which the hacker has changed it to is [MOD EDIT: Suspicious email removed]....anybody else have this on their Facebook account now!!????

[Bossman2]

For everyone in the Facebook hack situation who can't get their account back, after around 4 months I tried logging in and got the account back straight away.

I'd just wrote a very long response for this but hit the wrong button on the phone correcting the grammar before posting it and lost the message as it took me back to the forum messages so I'll keep it brief.

The ip address logging into my Facebook account was a Virgin ip address, my email had been in multiple data breaches on companies like Adobe etc but here's the thing, it happened to one of my friends and when I asked him who his service provider was, it came as no surprise that he said Virgin and here's how they are doing it.

A virgin employee or group of employees are checking emails on "Have you been PWNED" website, if your email has been in a data breach they then send you the template as they already have access to your password, quite simple really.

What they didn't bank on is doing it to an analyst who is used to problem solving and has slowly been collecting more info over the course of a year to actually get to this conclusion.

Will you get anywhere with Virgin: no

get them to close your email account down and set a new one up as its been breached so other things like this could come your way like this from other delinquents out there.

The fact everyone on Virgin is getting this same template is the giveaway, I've explained how they're doing it but unfortunately there's nothing you can do apart from change your email address as a company the size of Virgin will never admit to something like this happening internally, even if they catch the culprit/s

Hope this helps everyone on this thread

[Bossman2]

Also, when they log into your Facebook account and Facebook sends you a message with the ip address, go to this website and it will tell you what network they are on

https://whatismyipaddress.com/ip-lookup

[goslow]

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@Bossman2 wrote:

<snip>

The fact everyone on Virgin is getting this same template is the giveaway, I've explained how they're doing it but unfortunately there's nothing you can do apart from change your email address as a company the size of Virgin will never admit to something like this happening internally, even if they catch the culprit/s

Hope this helps everyone on this thread

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Have you provided your collection of evidence to ICO for investigation? There has clearly been something going on with VM's email security based on the sheer number of identical topics about accounts being hacked.