Post

Have you received an email from an alleged hacker with an attached PDF that includes your name, a picture of your house, and a threat to leak embarrassing info or photos to your friends and family? Don’t panic. 🧵 (1/7)

Despite what the email says, you probably haven’t been hacked. These kinds of schemes use publicly available info, not the kind of info that hackers would get from obtaining access to your accounts, so it’s unlikely the sender has hacked your accounts or devices. (2/7)

Here’s our biggest tip: do not pay the ransom. Having your address, full name, and a picture of your house doesn’t mean that someone has acquired private, compromising info about you. Here are some quick answers to a few questions people have after receiving these emails. (3/7)

Q: How did they get a picture of my house? A: With Google Street View and real estate sites, it’s not difficult to find a photo of someone’s house if you have their address. Data breaches are also common and scammers likely obtained multiple lists with the personal info of millions of people.(4/7)

Q: Should I respond to the email? A: Absolutely not. (5/7)

In the UK report it to "Action Fraud". They're very unlikely to take direct action on an individual case but do use the statistical data to help focus the limited investigatory resources and go after the very worst and larger scale actors. If you get multiples report to your local police

to get evidence of any coordinated campaign "on the books".