Slashdot Mirror
Inside a Ransomware Money Machine
tsu doh nimh writes "The FBI is warning that it's getting inundated with complaints from people taken in by ransomware scams that spoof the FBI and try to scare people into paying 'fines' in lieu of going to jail for having downloaded kiddie porn or pirated content. KrebsOnSecurity.com looks inside a few of the scams in the FBI alert, and it turns out it only takes 1-3 percent of victims to pay up to make it seriously worth the fraudsters' while."
There have been suggestions that some of the scammers use this as a mark filter: people put off by the spelling/grammar would be unlilkely to follow through to the end anyway so put them off early so you can concentrate on the others. People who fall for the scam despite the presentation are better quality marks and more more likely to pay out (either because they have done something wrong and are feeling guilty, or because they don't speak the language well enough to spot the telltail problems, or simply because they are just plain thick).
Though I think it more likely that the simpler explanation (most of the scammers simply fail to create a good presentation in the target language) is more likely at least in most cases.
" If I demand money or I will shoot him, that's blackmail."
No, that's extortion.
Blackmail would be threatening to tell your wife about your mistress. Blackmail can include things you would otherwise be perfectly legally allowed to do.
You may have every legal right to expose the trips made to a bathhouse by a homophobic republican senator but if you demand money from him in exchange for *not* revealing that secret, that's illegal.