Beware of Bitcoin blackmail scams

Did you receive a mail blackmailing you to publish allegedly videos or photos recorded from your web cam while doing things, like masturbating, you don't want others to see? And the mail carries any of these or other Bitcoin addresses?

16hvsuvmPt65A6ahE9hf3RbhrJzsnuEcww
1NGCsGqSdNEKpptQ4DKbJEva59cTSk369o
12kieSEdCV4ikxdXXXC23ZsDcNmmKrRmwA
1665CsfFELrfiiubFZtLsGHGuqbUz1wXcz
133gp7wGpKFaB2C593B2MCk2G4abYnEj9j
13dk8JbVeEKGmHq7aevbdVxjg2cHYFT4kg
16aqr3rXxCtxa8AK3ErftnBQLfzyyhjpXJ
17nRB68nKvFGgKWJom2R6NZJDARK3BDuNg
19A5rdrxb4MREtyGWo944uRoNDBxBPNNG8
1DJ1mLv7zeCuTpK3Fq858SAL5h17nSixpP
1FH4HU6xhQnCbzYosP2N5HAa5aPJd7XxYZ
1FH4HU6xhQnCbzYosP2N5HAa5aPJd7XxYZ
1Hjpu99iHc3oi55ZJKf6RHhKbwit8vEzTS
1KLWVPD2UQJ7riZuaUBF6u4u8GTzhcypHo
1L6XxPRuLJdr6JCqw8dwNUm1wFLisrGREL
1LsTK4bKaUGMXgbqo4n3Vc7quu6UvATjfz
1MZ6avTVhzxsyZvyNxFVWMutZwjQUhLpYo
1xPr18gM8YKsaiUkGz9MgpjtwcBQcME2i < There seems to be a missing digit
33FY4c6TuCkS71Jg2PZAqCvpG5pMyFhdHk
37nDMVLyBafNVj9Jok5SBUdDzkpJ3Ubr2B
3CVucYjbRnbRKZ7AaSJQS1h64t5mKzqvxp
3EtS5KTmQJrjKDiTmPnhYbJqk5H3HAoWY4
3QHNJ3rWKFFppYLaqNqw4rfF1qZEKgKFYQ

Ransom

The scammers might also claim they infected your computer with a virus and ransomware. They claim to send videos they recorded to all of your contacts if you don't pay the ransom. This scam scheme is also known as sextortion.

What can you do?

Best thing is to do nothing because the scammer most likely does not have any footage recorded from your web cam. He's just feeding from your fear that you believe his claim. Thus even if you did something in front of you computer - don't we all? ;-) - he has most likely nothing to blackmail you. Just ignore this mail and delete it.

How can I say he has nothing?

Am getting these scams since many years now. They don't go to my main email address but to several I planted on spammers of Argentina and other Latin American spammers and scammers after I was targeted with their spam. I wanted to see where these email addresses eventually go. Suppose it took some five years until the Argentine scammers were selling off these email addresses (or were hacked themselves? Ha ha ha ha) that I get these ransom scams since then. For once it's interesting to see - as I hoped - where my addresses end up and how long it took. Secondly I know exactly who of the scammers from Argentina sold them.

Conclusion

So don't be afraid, nothing will happen if you ignore this and future blackmailing scams. But if you are still nervous that this could actually happen you might want to put some duct tape over your camera lens. Just don't forget to remove it when you're actually engaged in a video chat with friends or relatives. You might also want to read more about bitcoin scam. Like for any scam it's always a good idea to run a BTC address against a search engine to see if its already has been reported.