Last year, when a group of hackers chose to attack the “dating” site Ashley Madison, the world sat on the edge of their seats waiting for the names of the people who chose to live according to their slogan “Life is short, have an affair”. Alas, there weren’t that many scandalous people on the list and most of them were robots. Now, a blackmailer is using the list as a way to get money by sending threatening letters in the post to the wives of the alleged cheaters and all the dude wants is payment in, ummm, bitcoin (didn’t know that was still a thing):
To stop me from spreading this information to rest of the people in your lives send me $2,500 in bitcoin.
While some letters have apparently been intercepted by the husbands – they are sent by post – there is one incident of a woman receiving it. This is according to security blogger, Graham Cluley:
In the last week or so, people have started receiving letters addressed to Mrs. X. Some husbands have intercepted these, but at least one woman has opened them. Obviously getting a letter in your home is more terrifying than an email.
Everything about the letters is the same, except for the names used:
Dear Mrs [Name]. I am afraid this letter contains bad news. It goes on to disclose that her husband was a member of an adultery website, and threatens to tell her family and friends about this, if she did not pay up $2500 in bitcoin.
Although no one has admitted to paying up yet, one of the wives who received the letter wrote:
I’m a wife and received my letter today informing me that my husband is a member of AM. He apparently already got his letter but disposed of it without me knowing. This stuff is crazy! I’m not paying. Expose the cheating bastard to whomever the blackmailer decides. My letter was post marked Feb 22, 2016 from [Virginia]. BTW, hubby admitted to being a member. That’s enough for this wife!
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