Have you ever received a ransom email? 📧 It happened to me 3x this week.☣️ An old LinkedIn password was in the subject line. It was scary! 👿 The email threatened to publicly release private videos of me if I didn’t pay $2K in Bitcoin! 💰 No such videos exist, but it still shook me up. 😱 I also thought: “Bitcoin? How does that work?” Imaginary exchange: 💬 ME: HELLO, CREEP, I read your email with great interest. 🎞 In the video of you have—am I doing something REALLY naughty? I can’t wait to see what you found! Are you sure it’s ME? I know you’re just trying to make a dishonest living here, but here’s a problem: I don’t know how to use Bitcoin. Can you help? 🤔 CREEP: Are you living in a cave? 🕳 Everyone knows how to use it! ME: Um, Sorry, no. No idea. 🤷🏻♀️ CREEP: Unbelievable. OK, I’ll make a YouTube tutorial for you & mark it “private,” then send a link. 🔗 Later— ME: Thanks for the link. The tutorial was great! I think I get it! 🎉 BTW, I liked it & subscribed to your channel & left a comment. Also, I added it to my “Favorites” & “Watch later” lists! 👀 Bitcoin seems risky, though. Can’t I just use Paypal? It’d be way easier. Also, you found me on LinkedIn & I guess for obvious reasons you didn’t send me a connection request? 📩 . CREEP: I can’t believe this. Y’know what? Just forget it. I’m taking down the video. 🚫 ME: No! Please don’t! It was REALLY well done. 👏 You should make it public! 📢 It’ll get lots of views, likes & comments AND you might inadvertently receive thousands in Bitcoin from unsuspecting idiots! 💵 Just make sure to add tags to it! 🏷️ CREEP: I’m blocking your email address. Don’t contact me again. 🖕 ME: You didn’t say “please.” 🙏 ⚠️ NOTE: #staysafe. #Ransom emails are on the rise. Use email preview, then block the senders & mark as #spam. Even #scammers need to make $ during #lockdown PICS: #flowers seen while on last week’s walk in #Madrona #Leschi #humor #howto #beware #spam #bewareofscammers #flowersofinstagram #flowerstagram #spring #springinseattle #seattle #shotbypixel #neighborhood#pixelperfect #pixelphoto (at Central District, Seattle) https://www.instagram.com/p/B_rSp1ggZRt/?igshid=114aaa9sf46hh
