A new email-based sextortion scheme is making the rounds recently, claiming to have evidence of its targets “venturing into the darker corners of cyberspace” and threatening to release videos of you jerking off.
The emails 404 Media has viewed—from readers and friends who’ve been targeted—contain the person’s full name, address, and phone number in the body of the email, an attached PDF that contains a photo of the person’s street (likely screenshotted from Google Maps), and a lengthy letter claiming that they’ve been watched through their webcam.
“I suggest you read this message carefully. Take a moment to chill, breathe, and analyze it thoroughly,” the message says. “We’re talking about something serious here, and I don’t play games. You don’t know anything about me but I know ALOT about you and right now, you are wondering how, right?”
What timing. Moments ago I submitted a request to blur my home on Google street view and came here to ask, has anyone else done so?
The most recent school shooting got me researching ballistic backpacks for my kids and I was stunned to learn that I, a person with a nearly 40-year old felony cannot purchase, possess or wear body armor. In other words, I must keep my flesh susceptible to the lethality of police bullets. Now I’m wondering, since will I also be denied obscuring the world a view of my home which includes, by the way, our vehicles parked in the driveway?
Also wondering, do bullet proof backpacks constitute body armor? Seems they would, but by that logic, if I slide a steel plate into the laptop sleeve of my backpack, is that now body armor, too? Thankfully, the chance my kids will be involved in such a horrific event are still slim (touch wood), and I probably won’t outfit them with milspec gear, but I’d like to get your take on blurring your house on Google Maps and, on the related topic of protecting ourselves and our children, what constitutes body armor?
Cheers!
Knowing now the results of having pictures on your computer, what would you have done to avoid that being found?
What would you have NOT DONE to avoid? Perhaps that is a shorter list?
I am not sure anyone who comes to this site due to a conviction for a sex offense would really care if they released videos of masturbating.
That’s not even close to being as shameful as being on the list. Also….. you would be hard pressed to find more than two people on the planet who would be interested in watching me do that.
I used to get those scam emails all the time too. We will tell your friends, family and your church what you look at on the internet. As soon as they mentioned church, I knew they did not really know anything about me. I am not allowed in a church, hehe
I have been getting a lot of the wrong number texts lately. The most recent one was from someone who pretended to be someone who thought they were talking to a veterinarian. After a few replies, they “realize” they have the wrong number, but still want to be friends. Ummmm no. I get a few of those every month.
Due to heavy foot traffic on my street, I haven’t had my curtains open in 25 years. No one is looking in at me so this scam won’t work.