Over the past year I\u2019ve been getting probably 1-2 emails per month haunting my junk mail folder from broken-English speaking spammers trying to \u201csextort\u201d me into sending them Bitcoin in exchange for not telling all my contacts about some videos I didn\u2019t watch.<\/p>\n
i.e. what computer security ex-spurts call \u201csextortion.\u201d<\/p>\n
The scam goes like this:<\/p>\n
1. You get an email from someone saying they know your password \u2014 specifically, an old password you used 10+ years ago with Yahoo or some other big company whose data was recently hacked<\/p>\n
2. The secks-torter says they put some virus on your computer when you visited a site they don\u2019t name, just that it was some pourno site they say they recorded you watching<\/p>\n
3. They also use your first name in the email to make it sound even more menacing and urgent, plus put the old password in the subject line<\/p>\n
4. They say they will leak the video of you watching pourno to your contacts<\/p>\n
5. But, they will be kind enough to delete the video if you send them some bitcoin<\/p>\n
The first time I got this, I couldn\u2019t help but think:<\/p>\n
\u201cI bet this actually works on some people\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
Turns out it does, according to the computer security ex-spurts.<\/p>\n
In fact, this sextortion shtick is such a thing now, even the hit show Black Mirror did an episode about it. And, I hear-tell that was one of the more popular episodes. I also would not be surprised if that episode did more to \u201csell\u201d anti-virus and anti-malware software than any ad or sales pitch run by these companies ever did.<\/p>\n
And you know what?<\/p>\n
There is an extremely powerful selling method at work with this.<\/p>\n
A method best illustrated by a famous life insurance salesman who said:<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have to make them see the hearse pulled up to the curb side\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
And so it goes\u2026<\/p>\n
To learn my non-extortionary email ways, go here:<\/p>\n