Patreon Users Threatened By Ashley Madison Scammers (csoonline.com)
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."
"...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.
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.
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.
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.
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......
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
It would have been nice if the fucking summary had told us who or what Patreon was.
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."
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."
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.
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.
Publish and be damned!
#DeleteChrome
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/
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
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
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.
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.
"She" was a bot, kid.
If modern robots look like that, then I, for one, welcome our hot robotic overlords.