There are 21 replies in this Thread which has previously been viewed 6,034 times. The latest Post () was by serafina.
Today I received in my junk folder this email. I sleep very well as I haven't watched more than cat videos and I going back in time, I can't really remember having used the computer for my enjoyment, rather than work. Cats are an addictions, so I don't file them under leisure, anymore!
The sender appeared to be my email address, indeed. Which is a first.
Holy shit! That is a scary, if amateurish, threat msg.
About the cat videos -
Exactly what were the cats doing, and were they adult cats?
Holy shit! That is a scary, if amateurish, threat msg.
About the cat videos -
Exactly what were the cats doing, and were they adult cats?
There might have been adult cats involved, and some butt showing. 
Well in that case, unless you pony up $762 in bitcoin, your sordid video watching addiction will be (ahem) exposed.
Must be from Nigeria.
Hey , if you give me 50% , I will send a friend to have a quiet word with this guy......
My Uncle Vito will take care of it for you for free.
He just likes to stay in practice.
My Uncle Vito will take care of it for you for free.
He just likes to stay in practice.
Dumping ruins the industry! 
After a nearly identical letter that sat in my spam folder until I saw it yesterday (thanks, serafina for cushioning the shock), today I was working along when my screen was filled with the dire warning that “Microsoft “ had blocked Windows because of questionable activity, giving the phone number of “our certified technician.” Meanwhile a continuous fire-alarm-type horn was blaring, voiced over by Tokyo Rose on a continuing loop warning me not to attempt to exit the warning or shut down the computer, because this would result in identity theft.
Splinter to the rescue! Instructing me on a few preliminary steps, he took over and (very!) remotely cured the moribund patient. THANK YOU!
A connection between the crude ransom note and this computer lockdown? Probably just coincidence. But the former seems laughable while the latter, with its flashing screen and high decibel screeching, was akin to military torture.
Coincidentally there's an article on brand spoofing here.
https://www.howtogeek.com/fyi/…nd-spoofing-is-the-worst/
Malwarebytes is very effective in ridding one's PC of this sort of stuff.
I’ve sworn by malwarebytes for years. But they, along with Windows Defender, were apparently napping yesterday. Today I signed up for malwarebytes’ premium version.
The original message is almost laughable. I mean, you would have to be up to some fairly sordid stuff to be scared by the threat. People who don't engage in illegal activity or spread their legs on their webcams would not be threatened by this surely. If this is how bad actors succeed I may take up a new profession.
Serfina, I love cats and would like to share photos of mine. Desposit one like onto my message or you will never see those photos. A timer will start when you read this message. You have infinite amount of time to reply but let's make this easy on everyone.
Talking about cats, we have this 4 mo. old cutie looking for a home. Her name is Telma (for now) because she was found in San Telmo. She looks for human company, is well behaved and has none of the porteños behaviors of which we complain on this forum often. 
Prospect family can PM me to arrange meeting with Ms. Telma.
I read that book before we took in a stray kitty last month. Saved our lives.
Cats know things you know...
Today I received weird Google calendar notification in Russian from my email (or at least, it tricked my phone so that it showed my name as sender). The invite contained an email address from Turkey. I have no idea of what it said as it was in Cyrillic.
This was weirder than usual and prompted me to change my Google passwords, which is something I have been quite lenient about. However, I was alerted recently by a bank service that keeps me current of data breaches that might have affected my accounts. For example, I have an account with Google, there is a breach in Google, my account might have been exposed, and so on. This doesn't guarantee fraudulent use of my credentials, but it is a flag. I got about 15-20 flags associated with different services.
After changing my Google passwords, I received a few SMS to confirm that which looked even more suspicious.
Would google really use random characters like this? Or was it an attempt to avoid harvesting my phone for information on password changes?
