From: <anita.nystroem@blocksp.com>
Date: 3 Jul 2020 17:11:06 +0700
Subject: Personal notes on information request
Hello, I work as a private investigator.
Our company received an order to hack into your email, phone, cloud, network and to collect intelligence.
We work with hackers from China for tasks like that, and they are the best. But we do have an ethical protocol in place.
After checking on the person, who ordered the hack and investigation on you, I have decided to come forward and offer you to buy the information about that person.
You will also have a report on yourself (including a list of compromised accounts, devices and photos).
Usually, it's not the case, but after reviewing this matter, I see that something illegal is planned against you.
Material we have can easily be used to blackmail you.
We usually work on private and corporate espionage cases, but this one is different.
We have received a 50% prepayment for your case from that person (total agreed upon cost was 12500 USD).
However, I will make a discount to you (without any profit for the agency), if you decide to buy this information.
Do not try to email me back. This is a throwaway address. I have to protect identity, because nature of this job is already illegal.
When you send the payment, I will get back to you. You have 2 business days to make the transfer. It will cost you 40% of the remaining balance.
We will process $2,500 payment through bitcoin. In case you have trouble with bitcoin, google how to fund it.
Send BTC to this wallet 1AxJV1VYBccQvK44unpAx1KAbzvWmEQWDc
I strongly recommend you to make this decision alone for now, without consulting law enforcement or anybody else.
It will be up to you what to do after you get the information. We will delete all files. The original customer will get nothing.
Please keep in mind, because I need to pay Chinese contractors, and if you decline this offer, I will have to go to the original customer and send them all intel to cover the costs.
But at least you know that now and have a free heads up of what's coming.
Hi, I got an email virtually the same as this on 6th July 2020. The bit that was different was about not calling law enforcement, it didn’t appear in the script that was sent to me.
I received this email this morning. I noticed that it appeared in both my inbox & my sent box. Just ignore or is there something I need to do to block them from further access?
Sorry, this is not something Brendinghat can help with. Speaking personally, if I noticed a strange Email in my outbox, I would investigate further. I can think of innocent explanations, so don’t panic just yet. It could be a sign of something not quite right, so best to get it checked.
We can tell you that it is unlikely to be related to the Email above. Our copy had nothing sinister (virus) attached, it contained no hidden links. So it was just a coincidence that this Email caught your attention.
Hi,
I have received similar email on 7th July. I didn’t realise it until I checked my junk box a few days later. That email came from my own email address to me. I am not sure it is impersonating or have been hacked recently. Do you have any update about that scam?
First a disclaimer: Brendinghat publishes Emails that arrive at our honeypot mail accounts, that is all. We are not qualified, or insured, to give advice or follow up on anything we publish.
I will say that it is very easy to fake the sender of an Email and using “Occam’s razor” principle the likely explanation is that someone sent thousands of messages using the recipients name as the sender as a trick to get the Email read. But as we are in a litigious society, I again have to add that is based no evidence on your particular case.