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Computer Help and Support

In reply to the discussion: Hacking question [View all]
 

LakeSuperiorView

(1,533 posts)
6. I got the same email a couple weeks ago.
Sun Nov 18, 2018, 12:52 PM
Nov 2018

It is easy to make an email look like it is coming from any given address. The real origin is buried in the headers that are not displayed on most email readers, but it was almost certainly a disposable email account that is already dead and untraceable.

The password they obtained was from a breach of security at a site where you used it.

That password only gives them access to your account at sites where you used the password with the same email address. Given that there are many sites where people can have accounts, finding other sites is a wild goose chase.

That password gives them no inherent access to your computer.

That said, change your password at sites where you used that password or similar variants, with that same email address.

It's best to have multiple email addresses with different purposes. One to be used on sites that really matter, like banking. One for shopping online ( I don't, so I don't have an email for this). One for low security stuff where the site makes you create an account, but no money is involved.

The scammer is hoping that you will be afraid and unknowledgeable enough to deposit the money to their bitcoin account. It is a phishing attempt, they have no power to actually do anything they say.

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