A perfect day for me is one in which the phone never rings
and the mailman drives right past. The long Memorial Day weekend had arrived! I
was looking forward to quiet. The last thing I wanted was drama in any form. Unfortunately
email is an everyday 24 hour occurrence.
Late Friday afternoon one arrived with the heading: I've Got
Bad News For You; from someone claiming to be a professional hacker. The email
stated they had subverted my anti-virus had been following me for months and
tracking every move I made.
I was sweating until I came to the part about having photos
of me masturbating while watching a porn site. They demanded payment in bitcoins
or these would be posted on social media. Now I was laughing, but also angry!
This person had crossed a line!
In the past scammers offered to send me money but this one demanding
it and threatening me!
I tried forwarding it to a number of authorities attempting
to report it. Each one came back as undeliverable, I wondered if the sender had
put a block on it preventing me from doing this. So I phoned the Sheriff's
office.
They seemed unconcerned and dismissive. I was told that as
long as no money was paid, or personal info given, or any links clicked, I
could just delete and forget it. What???
I thought just the act of sending someone an email like this
constituted a serious crime! Hot cat pee! Here was extortion, blackmail and
stalking by an admitted criminal!
My neighbor told me I still had cause to worry. The
technology existed to paste my head on a different body and post it.
Shortly after, a stranger on Facebook with a private account
stole/shared a photo of me at age 40. I was wearing a long dress with plunging
neckline. I'm sure this was taken for some purpose I wouldn't approve and it
upset me.
That email probably originated from a distant part of the
planet; China, Africa, Russia, wherever etc. making the sender or senders
difficult to shut down. Thus no one even bothers to try allowing this scam
to proliferate.
