Back to those sextortion emails though. The latest script starts with "Hello pervert", so that's not the greatest of starts. After that it claims to have installed a piece of software called Pegasus on your system. This is what it says:
Have you heard of Pegasus?
This is a spyware program that installs on computers and smartphones and allows hackers to monitor the activity of device owners.
It provides access to your webcam, messengers, emails, call records, etc. It works well on Android, iOS, and Windows.
I guess, you already figured out where I'm getting at.
Looking up Pegasus on wikipedia, I see this:
Pegasus is a spyware developed by the Israeli cyber-arms company NSO Group that is designed to be covertly and remotely installed on mobile phones running iOS and Android.
I run Windows or Linux on all my computers, so that means their claim "It's been a few months since I installed it on all your devices because you were not quite choosy about what links to click on the internet." is obvious bullshit. It would be impossible to install it on any of my computers. My phone or my tablet maybe, but none of my computers, and I do nearly all my browsing on them. My Android devices are mainly for playing games, listening to media or as a sat nav in the car.
Then there's the usual blah de blah about how they can ruin your life, tell everyone what kinky stuff you're into and even make your dog hate you. I may have made that last one up. Suffice to say though the threats come hard and fast, just like you did in that video they claim to have of you that doesn't actually exist. This is the bit that really annoyed me though:
Better late than never.
I'm some kind of God who sees everything.
However, don't panic. As we know, God is merciful and forgiving, and so do I.
But my mercy is not free.
Let's put those lies to bed right here and now. They're not "Some kind of God", but someone who's sent this exact same email out to likely thousands of people in order to scare them into sending money. They don't "see everything". All they see are dollar signs and leaked databases. They have no mercy, just a list and a whole lot of greed. And "forgive"? For what exactly? For doing what - if we're honest - pretty much every male on the planet has done, will do or may be doing right now. Quite a lot of females as well while we're going there. Though from what they say, women never do that, nor do they break wind apparently, especially the pretty ones. And that's under the assumption a single word of what the scammer says is true, which we now know is not.
Finally they claim that if you send them money via Bitcoin they'll delete the videos and leave you alone. Remembering that we now know they're lying, what'll actually happen is they'll just continue sending out the same exact email with a different Bitcoin address. My record for receiving these is over 170 in one day. They're not targeting you, they're just sending out the same email to tens, hundreds, even thousands of people at once using a list they either found online or paid for. If you get one of these emails, feel free to ignore it. Do give us the Bitcoin address they used though so we can report it. Oh, and if you don't believe these are mass mailed, check out viewtopic.php?f=20&t=83428 where you'll find we already have 60 pages filled with them and most posted up by me.
