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Patreon Users Threatened By Ashley Madison Scammers (csoonline.com)

Posted by samzenpus on from the give-us-your-money dept.

itwbennett writes: "Over the last few days, the group responsible for extortion attempts and death threats against Ashley Madison users has turned to a new set of targets – Patreon users," writes CSO's Steve Ragan. A message sent from the same account used in previous campaigns by the scammers demands a payment of 1 BTC or else the Patreon user will have their personal information exposed. "The [Bitcoin] wallet being used by the group has barely collected anything," says Ragan, "suggesting that after their massive push towards Ashley Madison users, people have stopped falling for their scams."

76 comments

  1. Not a scam. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's not a scam if they actually have information and will publish it if the victims don't pay.

    1. Re:Not a scam. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's a scam if they go ahead and publish your data after you pay.

    2. Re:Not a scam. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why would they? What would they have to gain from doing that, compared to what they lose (ie the entire racket, considering they just killed any reason at all for anyone to give them any money)

    3. Re: Not a scam. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's already been published and they are powerless to delete it so it is a scam.

    4. Re:Not a scam. by parkinglot777 · · Score: 1

      Why would they? What would they have to gain from doing that, compared to what they lose (ie the entire racket, considering they just killed any reason at all for anyone to give them any money)

      Are you serious? What would they gain? That's not a question to ask. "What would they lose" is more appropriate. They lose nothing, NOTHING. Blackmailers don't lose anything. It is a bonus if they gain some things. In the end, it is still a scam.

  2. Got an email from AM... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Welcoming me to their site, then more from ladies wanting to hook up. Funny, I didn't join them. I forwarded the emails to their abuse address saying I didn't join, and that if I receive any more I'll be taking legal action. Emails stopped.

    1. Re:Got an email from AM... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I forwarded the emails to their abuse address saying I didn't join, and that if I receive any more I'll be taking legal action. Emails stopped.

      It's adorable that you think those events are in any way connected.

    2. Re:Got an email from AM... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The lady that wanted to hook up said I was adorable too.

    3. Re:Got an email from AM... by jcr · · Score: 1

      I'm surprised that the emails stopped. I always figured AM was spamming random address just like half a dozen other dating scam sites.

      -jcr

      --
      The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
    4. Re:Got an email from AM... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "She" was a bot, kid.

    5. Re:Got an email from AM... by hawguy · · Score: 1

      "She" was a bot, kid.

      If modern robots look like that, then I, for one, welcome our hot robotic overlords.

    6. Re:Got an email from AM... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The say I look at it, anyone using A.M. is a "thoughtless, sex without love, bot".

  3. or... by neuro88 · · Score: 1

    "...suggesting that after their massive push towards Ashley Madison users, people have stopped falling for their scams."

    ...Or they're just casting a wider net.

    1. Re:or... by sg_oneill · · Score: 1

      ...Or they're just casting a wider net.

      Somewhat ham-fistedly.

      One of these days, they are going to find themselves accidently threatening a russian mafia boss, hells angel commander, mexican cartel boss or something to that effect, and they will find themselves very very dead.

      --
      Excuse the Unicode crap in my posts. That's an apostrophe, and slashdot is busted.
    2. Re:or... by jopsen · · Score: 3, Insightful

      One of these days, they are going to find themselves accidently threatening a russian mafia boss, hells angel commander, mexican cartel boss or something to that effect, and they will find themselves very very dead.

      Get real this isn't a movie...

    3. Re:or... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That is true. I'd normally be inclined to agree with you - I'm not a big fan of conspiracy theories or thinking there are giant cartels of bad guys who actually care about little things but...

      I don't know all the details - nor does anyone, as far as I know. Remember when Anonymous decided to take on the Zetas or another of the Mexican drug cartels? That did not last very long. They ceased their attempt at taking on those cartels rather quickly and quietly. From the grapevine, such as it is, they made their threats and then had threats returned in a manner that indicated that they were not as anonymous as they thought they were. Needless to say, they got silent.

  4. Nothing to hide by supremebob · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The "problem" that they're having with threatening to dox Patreon users is that most of them don't have a dirty secret that they're trying to hide like the Ashley Madison folks.

    Hey... if you want to "out" people for donating to good causes, go ahead! They'll probably get more sympathy than anything else. Odds are that you're just going to piss off a rival hacking group like Anonymous who's going to return the favor against the scammers.

    1. Re:Nothing to hide by sheetsda · · Score: 3, Interesting

      They're threatening to release SSN and related information that is being used as verification for credit applications, etc. The companies negligently using SSN as a verification mechanism is where we (the public) need to start suing in order to clean up this mess.

    2. Re:Nothing to hide by supremebob · · Score: 1

      They can threaten that if they want, but they don't actually have that information. Sure, they might have a (probably canceled by now) credit card number and your address, but they don't have any tax info like a social security number.

    3. Re:Nothing to hide by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Technically, they do... The September Patreon leak had ENCRYPTED tax form data, but the keys to access it were never in that data leak, and even if they had 10 million bots in a botnet to try and crack the RSA key for the tax form informaiton, that's a largely disproportionate amount of CPU time dedicated to trying to decrypt information that is effectively worthless to criminals outside of the US.

      As for leaking any damaging information .... the Patreon data leak was back in September, it wouldn't matter if they leaked anything they have or not, the people who would be "worst damaged" from the leak would be the people who are paying artists to draw them porn. Oh boo hoo. Finding anything that someone would want to pay for to keep buried on Patreon is pretty hard, considering that people that don't speak or read English wouldn't know what kind of information would be considered embarrassing. Nobody is going to kill themselves over Patreon, nobody. Most of the "porn" on Patreon is of the furry variety, and at worst, furries aren't embarrassed to be furries.

    4. Re:Nothing to hide by DarkOx · · Score: 1

      They're threatening to release SSN and related information that is being used as verification for credit applications

      Irritating yes but troubling not really. The fact is you SSN is out there for anyone who wants it.

      Its in all the major subscription database PI's and LEOs can subscribe to, almost for certain. Some of my licensed co-workers have access to that information and they shown me they can pull the SSN for just about anyone I could name. It would be naive to think the identity thieves don't have straw accounts and leaked creds for many of these sources.

      I an not suggesting anyone go posting their SSN all over the internet, but I don't think its nearly as big a deal as many people thing. Certainly anyone who targets you specifically can obtain it. Having it come out in one of these mass document dumps only means someone trying to open a large number of fraudulent accounts might hit you opportunistically.

      As far as I am concerned to the hackers I say bring it. I don't care if the world knows I pay Ali Spangnola a dollar every time she makes one of her cover-band videos. Actually I think you can already read my name on her thank you page so whatever.

      --
      Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
    5. Re:Nothing to hide by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      People who supposed GamerGate supporters, people who supported feminists, people who supported LGBT activists, people who supported anti-LGBT activists, people who supported religious crazies... I'm really surprised there has not been more fallout from it.

      Having seen data related to people like Thunderf00t and Dave Jones, there is some potentially embarrassing stuff in there. Their supporters include people from some fairly extreme groups, and there is a really obvious correlation between income and them taking certain actions. Maybe they are not embarrassed enough to care, but it's still a fascinating insight into the feedback loop that exists.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    6. Re:Nothing to hide by Jason+Levine · · Score: 1

      SSN is, unfortunately, a big deal. With your SSN, date of birth, and name, anyone can open lines of credit in your name. This includes credit cards, loans, etc. I found this out the hard way when someone opened a credit card in my name after somehow obtaining my name, DOB, SSN, and home address. (I never found out how they got this information and never will.)

      I was lucky in that the thieves paid for rush delivery of the card and the card was sent out before their address change request (from my address - needed to open the account - to their address) went through. The card arrived at my house and I was able to close the account and freeze my credit to make sure this didn't happen again. Had the card gone to them, though, they would have run it to its limit (which was more than $5,000) and not paid the bill. I would have found out about it when the collection agencies banged on my door for payment and they wouldn't be likely to take "But I didn't open that account or spend that money" as an excuse for not paying "my" debts.

      So threatening that you'll reveal someone's SSN is a very big deal - especially if you link it to their name and DOB.

      --
      My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
    7. Re:Nothing to hide by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't see any of that being particularly embarrassing. But again I speak from my perspective. I tend to be rather vocal about my political affiliations, and people I support tend be in line with those affiliations. If anybody "leaked" that info, anybody who knows me would just go "eh, makes sense".

      I know all people aren't going to be equally open, but I'd hope most people don't feel the need to hide their views. And yes, some of mine tend to be rather controversial. GamerGate for example I view as a rather fun exercise in a group of people bringing up a legitimate problem with the media, and the media taking on a mass offensive and morphing the original argument into something it wasn't. And of course since the media had the microphone, what they said is what people believe the GamerGate thing was about. You do remember the original complaint was about media conduct and it's relationship with game makers and not being against female game makers, right? My how that changed. It kind of reminds me with how I consider myself a libertarian and comparing what the actual libertarian views are versus what the media and the typical anti-libertarian says my views are. Hint, libertarianism isn't a form of anarchy, that can be shown by using basic critical thinking skill and seeing that libertarianism is considered a form of conservatism and anarchy is considered an extreme far left idealism. I've never met a libertarian who wants to say, abolish fire departments or who thinks private police forces are a good idea. Claiming libertarians support that is taking a view of libertarianism similar to claiming that the Nazis were socialists. It's technically true if you read everything as literally as possible, but misses some of the important details. And before someone screams godwin, it's tired, and occasionally it's valid to use the nazis as a reference point. I'm not comparing levels of evil here, merely pointing out that yes, technically the nazis were socialists, it was in their name, and some of the core beliefs, they did believe in. After all, their main platform point was the redistribution of wealth from the Jews to the common German. Remember, the comparison has to do with how ludicrously far off something is from what people claim it is. Granted again, what socialism is today is a rather different meaning then what socialism was back in the 40s. A guy named Xidnaf on youtube has a rather interesting history of the words Socialism and Communism and they were originally based on identical political ideals, but grew into separate camps were communism was a bit more "extreme"

      And yes, I'm aware that rant went way off were it started from, but things that people around here always say that make me want to scream sometimes.

    8. Re:Nothing to hide by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You do remember the original complaint was about media conduct and it's relationship with game makers and not being against female game makers, right?

      Actually, that's the second complaint.

      The original complaint was over a game developer being in a relationship with a game journalist some time after that journalist wrote about her.

      There was a lot of flak thrown at the game developer, with some very cruel things coming from a minority but vocal people. The gaming press choose to cover that minority, and multiple sites almost simultaneous release pieces attacking "gamers" and "gamer" culture. Though they probably meant just the minority who were harassing, this struck a nerve to the rest of the majority of gamers, who weren't harassers or hateful towards women. So they jumped in and that's when GamerGate really blew up (including the term/hashtag coined by some actor)

      It's almost a bit like how WW1 started. The original spark was the assassination of an Archduke over autonomy for people in the Balkans, but somehow got everybody else involved, even people far away from the original issue in the Balkans, and it wasn't what most people were fighting for.

      People like AmiMojo will almost certainly cling to the original event over the female game developer getting harassed, and dismiss any subsequent events that would jeopardize their view that the GamerGate side is illegitimate.

      While those sympathetic to GamerGate would brush off the first event and focus on what happened afterwards, such as you have.

    9. Re:Nothing to hide by JesseMcDonald · · Score: 1

      I would have found out about it when the collection agencies banged on my door for payment and they wouldn't be likely to take "But I didn't open that account or spend that money" as an excuse for not paying "my" debts.

      But they really should.

      The creditors are responsible for this situation through their lax authentication measures, even more so than the ones directly committing the fraud. The single most effective thing that could be done to prevent this type of identity fraud would be to void any attempt to collect on a debt (and consider it libel to include the debt in your credit history) unless the creditor can show that the target of the collection was the one that took out the loan—and obviously knowledge of public information like SSN, date of birth, etc. is not sufficient to prove that it was actually you.

      --
      "The state is that great fiction by which everyone tries to live at the expense of everyone else." - Bastiat
    10. Re:Nothing to hide by Jason+Levine · · Score: 1

      You'll get no argument from me that the system is in serious need of changes at many levels to protect people from identity theft. Unfortunately, the credit agencies and credit card companies profit off of identity theft (selling people's data, taking in fees from fraudulent purchases and then writing them off if proven to be fraud, etc). They have powerful lobbying groups that will fight any changes that threaten their business - a category which includes increased consumer protections.

      --
      My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
    11. Re:Nothing to hide by KGIII · · Score: 1

      If you follow this topic back to the beginning of it - as it showed up here, you can find that AmiMojo very specifically rooted for this data to be released in hopes that it would be used to silence the people they don't agree with. They were quite pleased about the idea and hoped that it would make people cut off their funding and inhibit these people's ability to be heard and motivation to speak. In other words, they wanted to make them less able to act on their freedom of speech. They were quite open about this.

      This? This is an improvement. Ami's made some decent strides as of late. Just encourage them to think and show them the people they're associating with and how their behavior is seen. I'd never have noticed but I did something to piss them off so they flagged me as a foe. I'd never really paid attention to them. Unfortunately, for them, some things stick in my memory and the little flag makes me pay attention to their username as I use the flag to mark posters who have interesting things to say or to ignore those who don't.

      So, that means I remember. I'm too lazy to dig through their post but they're all public. Just click on the older link at the bottom of their profile and go back in time. They've discussed this in two separate threads - this is the third. Their tone has tempered since the first and, frankly, I'm kind of proud of them. I see their zealotry as a problem but not their empathy. In my view, they're empathetic to the point that they lose rationality. Meh, it happens to all of us with certain subjects. We're not Vulcans.

      Anyhow, feel free to verify this. This is actually an *improvement* for them. (I don't imagine that they'd expected anyone to recollect their prior posting and, truthfully, I wouldn't have but they made themselves a detail that I pay attention to.) At first they were gleeful and eager. They wanted a group of people to use this information to shut down the two specific people that they mentioned in their post. They wanted others to take away their funding source and limit their ability to speak.

      If it were people outing homosexuals for the purpose of embarrassing them then I doubt they'd be so inclined to root for the data leak and would be saying leaking such data is immoral. But, baby steps. I'm kind of surprised that I remembered but, well, some things just stick in your memory for some reason. The material is free for one to look up if they want. I'm a bit lazy so that's unlikely to be something that I do.

      --
      "So long and thanks for all the fish."
    12. Re:Nothing to hide by KGIII · · Score: 1

      http://yro.slashdot.org/commen...

      Just for you. ;-) You win a gold star for improvement. Marginal improvement but improvement nonetheless.

      Hmm... No... Marked improvement, really. I dunno how I remembered the earlier posts (I can't even be certain what I ate for dinner two nights ago) but somehow that stuck in my head. I dare say, with some work, you'll be almost rational again in a few years. Think carefully how the data can be abused. You don't think your heroes are without blemish, do you? In certain subsets of our culture - those who support your idols will also be targeted should this information come to light. Be careful what you wish for.

      The very idea that you wanted to have people silenced is still baffling to me. Well no, I understand disliking it but I don't understand the desire to control others. Better the idiot you know than the one skulking about in the shadows, no? People should be free to be stupid and people should be free to enable others to be stupid, no?

      What if, say, a closeted homosexual were an executive at a conservative company and donated a goodly amount of money to someone you enjoyed and respected via Patreon? What if this is a bunch of people? What if this is just enough people who lose their jobs, after this information comes to light, for "other reasons" and the idols you have are no longer able to be advocates? What if those companies are put out of business because they have conservative or religious customers who drop them and they're no longer able to support your idols? What if they were having private personal messages discussing their nefarious plans to take down the two people you mention in your post and are then stripped of their membership at Patreon for conspiring against another user in an effort to deprive them of income?

      You'd absolutely not support this data leak then - in fact, we both know you'd be slamming it and claiming it was against the law, the perpetrators need to be jailed, and that someone ought to do something! You'd be in straight up hysterics. (If the conniption fits, wear it.) You'd be, shall we say, going ballistic and we both know this to be true.

      So, yes, I see your post today as tempered and a marked improvement and my original conclusion that it was a marginal improvement is in error. You're no longer calling for people to act on this to use it as a weapon to silence people and that's an improvement. I figured that I'd referenced you and discussed you in a comment below so it was only fair/appropriate to notify you of such. There is no need to respond but you can, if you want. You don't usually reply to folks but I know you read them.

      'Snot my fault you marked me as a foe. Sheesh. That's the indicator that I use to keep track of users so I can remember who's said smart things and who hasn't. Thus it automatically brings your posts to my attention. The funny thing is, we're probably on the same side and you just don't realize it. Err... And I'm also not a crazy zealot so there's differences. I admire your ability to empathize but you sure seem to lose perspective with some issues and take things to an extreme - to the point of becoming that which you profess to hate.

      Ah well, there's your amateur (unqualified) psychoanalysis. In fairness, I admire your empathy but I'd dread having your logic circuits. I imagine that there are subjects where I too am irrational but I don't see it because, well, I'm irrational. Anyhow, as said, no need to reply unless you feel compelled to do so. I just figured I'd share that you were discussed and that you might miss said discussion and the chance to speak on your own behalf if you felt a need to do so. I also figured that I'd commend you on your more tempered response. I'd like to think that you'd do the reverse and, if you wouldn't, don't tell me 'cause I would prefer to not be disillusioned. I am jaded enough, thanks. And no, I don't think I stated anything that you'd defend yourself from but it would be "unfair" of me to not give you the chance to do by omission.

      --
      "So long and thanks for all the fish."
    13. Re:Nothing to hide by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      Oh dear, you are rather confused, aren't you KGill? You seem to think I am advocating this abuse. You really need to concentrate on improving your reading comprehension.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    14. Re:Nothing to hide by KGIII · · Score: 1

      Well, you made me use the Google. The funny thing is, I should still be sleeping. Something made a loud noise and I was woken up.

      The passwords are actually the least interesting part of the leak. There are unencrypted private messages and a user database that allows you to see who was supporting whom.

      Expect some interesting articles about people like Thunderf00t and Sargon of Akkad in the next few days. Their private messages are likely a goldmine of damning information and may help the campaign to get them de-funded.

      Now unless I'm reading "goldmine" as something that's not positive and "help the campaign" as an active campaign to get people "de-funded" which will limit their ability to speak to a wide audience then no - you're guilty of exactly those things.

      Perhaps, maybe, it is my reading comprehension. I didn't cherry pick, I quoted the entirety of your quote. I'm a fair individual. I'm not entirely sure how one can possibly misconstrue something you said - in that case.

      I suppose you can claim that you didn't mean goldmine as a positive thing. I'm not gonna buy it. Nobody else is gonna buy it. If one doesn't support finding a goldmine, salivate at the idea even, then I don't know what's wrong with them.

      --
      "So long and thanks for all the fish."
    15. Re:Nothing to hide by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      There is an active campaign to get some people de-funded. It's hardly new, there have been campaigns to stop funding various groups for decades. Anyway, your reading comprehension failure is that you seem to think I have stated I am an active member of those groups or support what they are doing. You talk about be being "guilty", yet you just imagined the whole confession in your mind.

      This may come as a bit of a shock, so you may want to sit down, but people can report events and other people's points of view without implicitly supporting them. It seems that the word "goldmine" was particularly confusing for you - in this case it simply means that the leak will provide a lot of information that some people find valuable, similar to when journalists say things like "scammers will find the leaked data to be a treasure trove of personal data". In that example it doesn't imply that the journalist personally values the data as treasure, only that the scammers do.

      You know, some people charge for this kind of tuition.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    16. Re:Nothing to hide by KGIII · · Score: 1

      *chuckles* The only tuition that I'm getting is that you're willing to try to weasel out of your prior statements. That's why I quoted them in their entirety.

      There is a *slim* chance that you worded it poorly or there's some colloquialisms that I'm unfamiliar with. But it being a goldmine *and* a possible aid to those who want to get someone defunded is quite a bit different from being a goldmine *to* the people who want to get someone defunded. I'd also add that you're not a journalist. I'd also assume a journalist would not have stated it was a goldmine *and* a benefit to a group of people. They'd have said that it was a goldmine *to* a group of people or *for* a group of people - which your example did, but you did not. That's a pretty key distinction.

      If I say "it's a good thing and it will help group B" then it's wildly different then "it's a good thing for group B" (to use your journalistic example). The two are not synonymous and have quite different meanings in the English that I'm familiar with.

      But, if you prefer, I'll take your revision as factual and believe that's what you meant. It means you don't get the star to hang on the fridge - but it means you didn't need it. If such was *really* your intent (and you weren't pissing in your knickers in excitement at the news and salivating at the idea that these people might be silenced) then, well, I'd be shocked but I've been wrong before. If I was indeed wrong then I do apologize. That's up to you to determine. You don't even need to admit it in public.

      Given your pretty careful use of the language and ability to articulate, it's kind of difficult to believe that you'd make that distinction (it being a goldmine *and* a benefit for those who'd wish to silence others) when you were able to give a fine example of a journalist who did exactly not that same thing while citing it as an example. But, it could be a turn of phrase that I'm unfamiliar with or a usage pattern that was unintentional and I could be mistaken. I've been mistaken loads of times. This could be another of those times. We can pretend I was, if it will help.

      But... You're pretty damned good at saying exactly what you mean... You're damned articulate whilst I'm mostly verbose. I tend to think my reading comprehension is doing well but, as said, if you want we can pretend I'm mistaken in my understanding of grammar or, if you prefer, that you simply didn't mean what you said or worded it poorly.

      --
      "So long and thanks for all the fish."
    17. Re:Nothing to hide by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      If I say "it's a good thing and it will help group B" then it's wildly different then "it's a good thing for group B" (to use your journalistic example). The two are not synonymous and have quite different meanings in the English that I'm familiar with.

      This kind of language lawyering means you lost the argument. You are drawing huge inferences that just happen to reflect negatively on me from what is at the absolute worst a slight ambiguity.

      If you constantly read everything in this manner, looking for slight flaws that you can pry open into an argument that the writer believes what you think they believe rather than the more obvious and common interpretation, it's going to be hard to have a discussion with anyone.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  5. Oh noes! by DRJlaw · · Score: 2

    A message sent from the same account used in previous campaigns by the scammers demands a payment of 1 BTC or else the Patreon user will have their personal information exposed.

    Ashley Madison users had something that they might want to hide - the fact that they had signed up for the site which when combined with an assumption that they'd used it to cheat would be socially costly.

    But oh noes! Someone might find out that you crowdfunded an artist to create culture! Boy... really going to be ashamed of that one, aren't you?

    Not a member of either, but can't possibly think of why I'd pay in this new instance.

    1. Re:Oh noes! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But oh noes! Someone might find out that you crowdfunded an artist to create culture! Boy... really going to be ashamed of that one, aren't you?

      Although the number of people who care enough to pay should be much less than for cheaters, depending on the type of comics people might want to hide.
      Remember when Mozilla fired their CEO because he was against gay marriage? Someone who works for Mozilla and is not in favor of gay marriage and who donated to an anti-gay-marriage comic (if such a thing even exists) might pay the ransom. And that goes for any other topic the employer may not agree with. Sure it won't make them rich, but after they have the database sending a threat is little effort and might net them a few bitcoins (which might be worth zero or a million by the next day).

    2. Re:Oh noes! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      but can't possibly think of why I'd pay in this new instance.

      That's because you only use it for boring things. I wouldn't want my family finding all those pictures of Lola Bunny, for example.

    3. Re:Oh noes! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A message sent from the same account used in previous campaigns by the scammers demands a payment of 1 BTC or else the Patreon user will have their personal information exposed.

      Ashley Madison users had something that they might want to hide - the fact that they had signed up for the site which when combined with an assumption that they'd used it to cheat would be socially costly.

      But oh noes! Someone might find out that you crowdfunded an artist to create culture! Boy... really going to be ashamed of that one, aren't you?

      Not a member of either, but can't possibly think of why I'd pay in this new instance.

      Maybe if you live in Texas or in the bible belt...

    4. Re:Oh noes! by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      It's not just artists, a lot of Patreon users are supporting people who produce political and philosophical content. People like Thunderf00t and Sargon of Akkad, or Zoe Quinn and Randi Harper. Those are at the fairly mild end of the spectrum.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  6. The claim to have info they can't have by geekd · · Score: 5, Informative

    I'm a Patreon user, and I got the scam email.

    They claimed "I have your tax id, tax forms, SSN, DOB, Name, Address, Credit card details and more sensitive data..."

    All Patreon has of mine is my credit card info, name, and billing address. The same stuff any online retailer, or anyone who takes payment has. They DO NOT have my tax id, etc.

    So it's obviously a scam right from the beginning.

    1. Re:The claim to have info they can't have by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      I'm a Patreon user, and I got the scam email.

      Note immediately the difference between the AM hack........un all the AM stories we had on Slashdot, not one person said, "I am an AM user...."

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    2. Re:The claim to have info they can't have by rebelwarlock · · Score: 1

      I got the same email. I didn't even realize it until the deadline was up because I don't check my spam box very often. What I did see in my inbox was the email from Patreon informing me that these scammers didn't have any of the shit they claimed to have.

    3. Re:The claim to have info they can't have by Guspaz · · Score: 1

      Ditto, just checked my spam folder and I found the scam mail. Except, they don't have most of the stuff they're claiming. Why would they have any tax information in the first place? And I don't have an SSN, since I'm not American, so clearly they don't have that either.

    4. Re:The claim to have info they can't have by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      OMG HOSTSSSSSSSSSSS FILELEEEEEEE SOO-POOOOOO GOOODOODDDL.......APK

      YOU CAN'T JUST OPEN IT IN NOTEPAD AND EDIT IT YOU NEED MY VIRUS-RIDDEN .NET (OF COURSE I COULD WRITE IT FOR LINUX i just don';t because linux is not important ,lol BURNEDD cohen22 eat MY nutssssss) cuz NOTEPAD with the NADMIN you said that the DNS TRAFFIC OVERLORD probably cohenn22work for the mega pope!!

      cuz see these people I'm quoting:

      marko123: i love hosts file apk is the coolest person ever

      KGill: super host file mega sex time party now

      SO eat your werdss cohenn22 on the 64-bit no virus total.com mega upload kim dot com super sexmart

      so try that megaman..... APK

  7. Soooo... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I was a paying member of Ashley Madison and I have been getting these extortion emails for months. Every day there's a new bitcoin address to send 1-5 bitcoins to keep them from publishing my information. If I acted on every email I would be flat broke by now. No matter how many bitcoins you send, someone else has your information and will try to extort you. It will never end......

    1. Re:Soooo... by 0xdeaddead · · Score: 1

      well it was on a torrent, so who knows how many people it'll spread out to.

      it'll never go away either.

    2. Re:Soooo... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They all got them from a torrent. Which anyone with a modicum of interest has (I grabbed it because I'm going through a divorce) so its effectively public already.

  8. The internet is now a sharia law zone by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Getting drunk and watching porn while eating bacon is now strictly forbidden.
    You have been warned.

    1. Re:The internet is now a sharia law zone by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Getting drunk and watching porn while eating bacon is now strictly forbidden..

      How about if I get drunk and watch porn while the bacon is still cooking?

  9. Good email services by KitFox · · Score: 2

    Perhaps the biggest problem they encountered is the fact that the email service providers are sending their threats to the spam box where nobody is likely to see them. Hard to have good return on your marketing when you don't have trusted email.

    What amuses me most is that they'd probably make more money if they set up their own Patreon account.

    --

    @Whee

  10. Whut? by godel_56 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It would have been nice if the fucking summary had told us who or what Patreon was.

    1. Re:Whut? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think it's the brand of tequila that adulterous 4-star generals drink.

  11. WTF is Patreon? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    WTF is Patreon? Once again, another shitty slashdot summary...

    1. Re:WTF is Patreon? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You know what Patreon is. You're just looking for an excuse to criticize Slashdot (because you mistakenly think it makes you look cool) but are too stupid to articulate any actual flaw in its reporting.

    2. Re:WTF is Patreon? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A way of giving financial support to content creators. ...kind of like a Patron

    3. Re:WTF is Patreon? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You know what Patreon is.

      No, actually I don't, parent may not, and I'm absolutely certain that there are also others that have never heard of it before now.
      WTF is Patreon?

    4. Re:WTF is Patreon? by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      A way of giving financial support to content creators. ...kind of like a Patron

      So why not call it "Find a Gullible Fucking Patron" or isn't that hipstery enough?

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
    5. Re:WTF is Patreon? by adhdengineer · · Score: 1

      you obviously dont watch too many Youtube videos. Most of the regular ones i watch are constantly begging for me to donate using patreon. none of them are worth it.

    6. Re:WTF is Patreon? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      they've invented this thing called a "search engine" you see, and if you use one of these magical things, and type in the term you don't know, odds are very high the "search engine" will return useful information, including what the term you don't know is.

  12. Does it matter... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Does it matter if you use Patron Silver or Anejo?

  13. I don't know where they're getting their lists.. by jcr · · Score: 2

    I got a threat from these clowns. I take it about as seriously as those douchebags who say they want my help to claim their 8 million dollar inheritance from their deceased parents in Nigeria.

    -jcr

    --
    The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
  14. Wait, what? You can see other peoples' wallets? by towermac · · Score: 1

    You can just tell if someone's wallet is getting paid? I assume a wallet is like an account; I've never used bitcoin.

    You can just look that shit up? The all-anonymous bitcoin? I'm skeptical.

    1. Re:Wait, what? You can see other peoples' wallets? by Qzukk · · Score: 4, Informative

      https://blockchain.info/

      A bitcoin isn't a "thing". It's an entry in a public ledger that says "wallet X paid wallet Y 0.001BTC". All* the wallets start out at 0 and if you want to see how much money wallet Y has now, you start at the beginning and add all the payments into it and subtract all the payments out of it. Example:

      https://blockchain.info/addres...

      has 0 BTC balance after receiving 3 payments and making 3 payments (the tiny fraction of a BTC missing each transaction is the fee paid to miners to process it).

      As for anonymity, I normally have no way of telling you who 1ENYmn1eCWPa4MFD4VU9wUFqLrzPcqUgaY is. But if one of those payments there was made from an ATM that converts money to BTC (and takes a photo) or one of those debits was sent to a drug dealer who mailed the drugs to the wallet owner's home address, then got busted by the cops who got a customer list, then it could be figured out.

      --
      If I have been able to see further than others, it is because I bought a pair of binoculars.
    2. Re:Wait, what? You can see other peoples' wallets? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      YUP

      Exactly three people have sent monies to it

      https://blockchain.info/address/1QAQTyhCzAfvp8uLpneBNamWTNRR1hx9Cp

    3. Re:Wait, what? You can see other peoples' wallets? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Duh, of course. It's called a blockchain. Try researching a little before opening your fat piehole and showing your ignorance.

    4. Re:Wait, what? You can see other peoples' wallets? by mlts · · Score: 2

      Very true. Blockchains definitely are truly proof of where the coins went. However, there are ways to launder BTC, such as tumblers, CoinJoin, exchanging for another currency and then back, and so on.

      Because of this, BitCoin is still used for nefarious purposes, as the transactions may be 100% traceable, but once moved out of the BTC arena into another currency, that is where the trail can go cold quickly.

    5. Re:Wait, what? You can see other peoples' wallets? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      he said, after he cried for an explanation of Patreon in the summary.

    6. Re:Wait, what? You can see other peoples' wallets? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, but we can still see all the payments made to the wallet that the emails say to send payments to.

      Even if it is like the exit node of a TOR network, we can look at that.

  15. Going to out me? by phorm · · Score: 1

    What are you going to out? My geeky tastes in comics and music.

    Ocremix
    Evil inc

    Oops, I did it myself. Blackmail only works on somebody with something they're ashamed of our worried about being revealed.

  16. To quote Arthur Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 1

    Publish and be damned!

    --
    #DeleteChrome
  17. Honestly given how little privacy there is by rsilvergun · · Score: 1

    I'm pretty sure you could find all that about by googling my /. user name.

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
  18. Oh god by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Everyone will know about the furry hentai scat art I fund :(

  19. Patreon is for cows. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You are all cows. Cows say moo. MOOOO! MOOOO! Moo cows MOOOOO! Moo say the cows. YOU CROWDFUNDED COWS!!

  20. Real email from Patreon by spaceyhackerlady · · Score: 1

    I didn't get the original email, but I got one from Patreon repudiating that original email.

    I contribute to a couple of Youtube channels. This is one about aviation. This one is too. So sue me.

    ...laura

  21. Patreon should have warned their users. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Is it really so much to ask that Patreon email me to say my data was leaked? Why is it that the first person to tell me is someone attempting to scam me?

    I certainly won't ever be using Patreon again if this is how they handle data breaches.