Cashing In On Shame

The crime of blackmail is nearly as old as the concept of shame itself.  But while in the past it was necessary to actually give the intended mark some kind of taste of whatever dirt the would-be blackmailer possessed (a photo, name, hint at details, etc), the prevalence of email has made this unnecessary.  Since it’s possible to send out tens or hundreds of thousands of emails for no more cost than sending one, scams of all kinds can rely on the law of very big numbers; no matter how absurd the claims, at least some of the recipients will be gullible enough to click on the link, send money to the imaginary Nigerian prince in hope of a big payoff, or swallow a would-be blackmailer’s claims of nonexistent “evidence” of wrongdoing.  Since we’re deep in the Neo-Victorian Era the most terrifying and potentially destructive accusations are currently sexual ones; not a week passes that we don’t see someone’s career or entire life destroyed over revelations that the victim was a sex worker, or the release of nude pictures, or even evidence-free accusations of rape, sexual harassment, etc.  So naturally, those who are easily-shamed (either due to personal hangups or very reasonable concern about jobs, relationships, etc) are most afraid of such revelations, even to the point where some silly writers consider “deepfake” porn a greater cause for concern than government actors using such technology to manufacture false evidence (eg, fake footage of a young black man whom the cops murdered drawing a gun on the murderer, etc).  And since having “child porn” found or planted on one’s computer by “authorities” actually carries far greater penalties than actual child rape, and the Great Unwashed now use the term “pedophile” to describe even people viewing pictures of adults who may be a few months under the sacred Moment of Shazam, the stage is set for vultures to capitalize on the fear of habitual porn-surfers who worry that they may have accidentally viewed underage models at some point.  And since porn-viewing is so ubiquitous, the current “I hacked your camera and recorded video of you masturbating to child porn” scam has proven quite profitable for the con artists.

It’s important to note that these spam-scams are purely scattershot; I sometimes get them myself despite the obvious absurdity of addressing such a communique to a high-profile whore (especially one who is quite frank about being disinterested in both porn and masturbation despite having no silly beliefs about either being bad or shameful).  But recently I had one which actually followed up with a second threat-letter including stronger language, which might indicate they’re starting to change their tactics (probably due to declining levels of return from the marks).  So I figured I’d share the follow-up as a public service; it’s from the email address aurea.wilhelm@bloodbath.ravelly.xyz and this is it verbatim, except that I’ve redacted the bitcoin address.  Note the clever use of vague terminology like “the online forum” and “the groups” to avoid naming some site the mark never visits.  I’d also share the first one, but I simply deleted it; the only reason I even noticed that this was a sequel was due to the fourth-grade text-talk spelling of “Nightmare” in the sending address.

WAKE UP maggiemcneill@earthlink.net!

Do you really think it was some kind of joke or that you can ignore me?

I can see what you are doing, pedo.

Stop SHOPPING and fucking around, your time is almost over.

Yea, I know what you were doing on Saturday. I am observing you.

Btw. nice car you have got there.. I wonder how it will look with big ‘PEDOPHILE’ stickers..

Because you think you are smarter and can disregard me, I am posting the 4 videos I recorded with you masturbating to kids right now. I will upload the videos I acquired along with some of your details to the online forum. I am sure they will love to see you in action, and you will soon discover what we do with pedophiles like you.

If you do not fund this bitcoin address with 5.000 USD by next Friday, i will contact your relatives and everybody on your contact lists and show them your pedophilia recordings.

The bitcoin price changed since I last contacted you, here are the new transfer details:

=====================================

Send:

0.49114836 BTC

to this Bitcoin address:

{redacted}

=====================================

If you want to save yourself – better act fast, because right now you are FUCKED. We will not leave you alone, and there are many people on the groups that will make your life feel really bad, you fucking pedophile.

N1ghTm4r3