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No, a Hacker Doesn’t Have Video of You Viewing…

If you get something like the message below, you should know by now as my client that this is fake. First, for most of you (I hope) you’re not watching porn. Second, no one is watching you. EVERYONE is getting this email sooner or later, kids, little old ladies, everyone! They just hope to get the folks that did in fact watch porn and “satisfy themselves” and scare them into sending money even though it’s a hoax. The only true thing in the entire message is the bitcoin address where you can send your money if you want (so please don’t). I particularly like the polite “Best regards” at the end of the message.

And FYI, Gmail’s spam filter will catch this message and just put it in spam for you.

Hello!

I am a hacker who has access to your operating system.
I also have full access to your account.

I’ve been watching you for a few months now.
The fact is that you were infected with malware through an adult site that you visited.

If you are not familiar with this, I will explain.
Trojan Virus gives me full access and control over a computer or other device.
This means that I can see everything on your screen, turn on the camera and microphone, but you do not know about it.

I also have access to all your contacts and all your correspondence.

Why your antivirus did not detect malware?
Answer: My malware uses the driver, I update its signatures every 4 hours so that your antivirus is silent.

I made a video showing how you satisfy yourself in the left half of the screen, and in the right half you see the video that you watched.
With one click of the mouse, I can send this video to all your emails and contacts on social networks.
I can also post access to all your e-mail correspondence and messengers that you use.

If you want to prevent this,
transfer the amount of $500 to my bitcoin address (if you do not know how to do this, write to Google: “Buy Bitcoin”).

My bitcoin address (BTC Wallet) is:  3Npi6VryeDuyu3zCi4CqJByt5fjwsgiake

After receiving the payment, I will delete the video and you will never hear me again.
I give you 50 hours (more than 2 days) to pay.
I have a notice reading this letter, and the timer will work when you see this letter.

Filing a complaint somewhere does not make sense because this email cannot be tracked like my bitcoin address.
I do not make any mistakes.

If I find that you have shared this message with someone else, the video will be immediately distributed.

Best regards!

I Have a Nice Desktop for Sale – $185

I just refurbished a 6 year-old Dell Studio XPS desktop computer. It has a 6-core AMD processor, an nice ATI graphics card, I upgraded the memory to 8GB and installed a brand new 240GB Solid State Drive. It has both analog and digital audio outputs (you could connect the sound directly to a nice stereo system if you wanted), lots of USB ports, can run multiple monitors and built-in Wi-fi.

It’s fast, it boots to the desktop in 15 seconds. Included is a new, clean build of Windows 10 without any of the garbage that comes with new computers, Microsoft Office 2010 Home and Business, Adobe Reader and Google Chrome along with Mozilla Firefox. The computer is completely up to date and ready to go.

If you’re computer is getting old and tired, this is faster and cheaper than trying to upgrade yours.  Don’t debate this too long because on the rare occasion I have a computer for sale, it usually goes in within 48 hours. If it doesn’t sell I’ll put it out to the general public, my clients and friends get first crack at it. Call or email me.

VIRTUAL Scams!

I heard about this on the news last night, then I found an article 2 1/2 years old about this–and I had never heard of this particular angle. Virtual kidnapping.

Apparently a bad guy calls who has faked the phone number of a loved one, like a college student. You THINK the call is coming from your son or daughter, you hear a muffled voice in the distance and then someone on the other end tells you don’t hang up and don’t call the police. You send them money or the kid is a goner.

Spoofing phone numbers is easy to do. The best thing to do is hang up and then call your loved one directly, hopefully your loved ond just answers calmly and you find that everything is fine and they have no idea what you’re talking about. If you get voice-mail, call 911 but then continue calling your child’s phone.

The bad guy will like all bad guys try to frighten you into sending them money, even though they don’t have your child, in fact they probably know nothing about the child. If they call back, ask them to tell you something only your loved one would know, where you went for your last vacation, the name of your pet, something like that. Don’t even use the name of your child because they probably don’t even know the name of the person they supposedly kidnapped.

Here’s the article by the AP… https://www.kxan.com/news/national-news/schools-nationwide-warn-of-virtual-kidnapping-scam-targeting-parents/994969527

A Great Addition if You Have an Amazon Echo…

The problem with the gadgets that you can connect to your WiFi (called the “Internet of Things”) like cameras, etc. is that most are made in China, sold cheap with no future support (like security updates.) TP-Link is an established networking company and they have a 2-pack of smart plugs that you plug into an outlet, and you can then control whatever is connected to it. It’s GREAT for turning on lamps, and if you’re going to be out of town over the holidays you can schedule the lights to look like you’re at home.

You set them up from your smart phone, and can control them from your phone, Amazon Echo and Google Assistant. It’s on sale for $27.99. There are cheaper devices on Amazon, but they are no-name and I doubt they will get security updates when needed. These little guys can be updated from your phone, that’s great!!! Click on the image to get the deal or click here: TP-LINK HS103P2 10 Amp Mini WiFi Smart Plug No Hub Required, Works with Alexa Echo & Google Assistant, 2-Pack, White