Blackmail/Ransom/Spam/Scam/Phishing Emails and What to Do

Receiving a ransom/phishing/scam/spam email can be both a confusing and frightening experience for some web users. For others, it's just another day on the net.  These aren't new occurrences, and email boxes around the world have received such notices since the public had access to email service. That's a long time.

For most, it's simply an annoyance and they hit the spam filter without bothering to even read it (that's what I do - I never open unsolicited email).  The problems come when you think something isn't spam - some spam/scam/phishing emails look like the real thing, but a little investigation proves them not to be (check the email headers, never click on a link in an email, even if it looks real or leads to a real website).

More recently, a ransom email has been circulating. This asks people to watch a video (DO NOT); and to leave a glowing recommendation (ha ... most of the reviews are bad, not good) on a specific site. But it also threatens people with spam emails, **** links on their hacked website and several other nasty things.

The thing to do is NOT respond, do NOT watch any video, do NOT leave any reviews. Check and copy the email headers (see gmail help if you don't know how to do that - if you don't use gmail, check the instructions for getting the original headers with your email provider).

Report the email using webmaster tools (report phishing here).  For gmail, read the help center on keeping your account secure (here), and for additional gmail help, use their community forum.

For those who live with the fear that these people will do what the email says, they probably won't. But, to alleviate some of your fears ... there are ways to control what happens on your website. If you don't know how to do any of these options, read the "Manage Your Sites" in the AdSense help center.


Notice this paragraph?

"Adding your sites protects you from malicious use of your ad code by others. The sites in your sites list are the only sites that are permitted to use your ad code. If a site displaying your ad code is not on your list of sites, then no ads will show on that site."

The worst thing you can do for AdSense is to do nothing.  Several other options exist for AdSense:

• Keep Your Account in Good Standing
• Handling Sabotage
• Blocking IP Adddresses

Never panic, never respond to these emails, never click links in emails, never pay money, never buy gift cards/itune cards, etc.  for emails that blackmail you.

For additional reading, see some of the links below. Others experiencing these miserable emails offer their "fixes" for such mail:

SeedTime (what this guy forgot to mention was to first run some security software on your system, one which will also check for keyloggers - it's very unlikely there is any keylogger on your system, but run the check before changing any passwords.)

ScamWatch

RetailDoc

posted by J.Gracey Stinson