I received a suspicious email that starts with, 'Greetings! Have you seen lately my e-mail to you from an account of yours? Yeah, that merely confirms that I have gained a complete access to device of yours.' The message goes on to say they can watch me through my camera and microphone thanks to malware they claim I got from an adult website. It really freaked me out since they're using my personal email. Is this a known scam, and should I just ignore it? Any advice would be appreciated!
3 Answers
Quick search online shows this is pretty typical. Just ignore it and don’t engage. They target people by making it look like they know personal info to scare you into responding.
This is a common scam. They’re just spoofing your email header to make it appear like it came from you. They haven't actually gained access to anything; if they did, they wouldn’t need to send an email. They’re counting on you panicking and falling for their tricks!
Thanks for clarifying! That makes a lot of sense. I'm relieved!
Totally ignore it! One option is to use a temporary or 'trash' email address for any untrusted sign-ups. That way, you can protect your real email from such scams.
Thanks Jeffrey!
Thank you David! Really glad to see it's quite common and not concerning, appreciate the help!