Lolz!

Well I'm convinced

In message <10o1bd1$6aac$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me, The Natural Philosopher snipped-for-privacy@invalid.invalid writes

I I had a fiver for every one of those I've had ...

And usually to addresses that only get used by spammers.

Adrian

-- To Reply : replace "diy" with "news" and reverse the domain

If you are reading this from a web interface e.g. DIY Banter or DIY Forum, please be aware this is NOT a forum, and you are merely using a web portal to a USENET group. Many people block posters coming from web portals due to perceieved SPAM or inaneness. For a better method of access, please see:

Even funnier when I do all my web surfing from a computer that has neither camera nor microphone fitted...

Actually, it's probably about six months since I last saw one of these.

Yep the pictures are all over Facebook, and Youtube.

Well mine has a camera and microphone, but under linux it isnt enabled unless O specifically allow it///and then a light comes on

This one was from Russia

Is he right or left handed? ;-)

People complain about AI, but this is what it said about your gif, entirely unprompted by me:

This message is a standard sextortion scam, not evidence of any real compromise. Nothing in it indicates that your device, accounts, or camera were actually accessed. These scams are mass‑sent, formulaic, and rely entirely on fear, not technical capability.

What this message actually is A bulk‑sent extortion template. The same text, typos, and Bitcoin address appear in thousands of reports.

Claims of “driver‑based malware”, “4‑hourly signature refresh”, and “video compilation” are technically incoherent and used only to intimidate.

The sender has no proof of compromise. If they had real material, they would attach a sample or reference something specific.

The Bitcoin address is used because it is untraceable, not because they expect a reply.

I think we already knew that...this one is incoherent in its idiocy...

well if only one in a thousands sends the cash, its a winner...

So the whole thing's a scam? I wish you'd said that before I caved in and paid. I always knew that unfortunate habit of mine would get me caught out one day. Does anyone know if it's possible to cancel a postal order? ;-)

I don't know how email providers filter spam these days. I'm quite surprised that you received that message into your inbox, as it's clear a decent AI based filter can spot the scam a mile off.

If 99% of the messages are never seen by a human, because they are filtered by the email provider, then your 1 in thousand requires 100,000 to be sent, and the cost of obtaining the email address and sending the emails may start to become rather significant.

I hope you're aware about that light.

It was believed at first, that the LED indication on webcams truly indicated their run state. Then someone who actually knew how it worked, pointed out it's just a GPIO that can be separately flicked on and off. If you "exploit" a webcam, it can record without the LED showing.

In a quick Google, this is an example of someone who did the work to find out.

"... but I've surveyed the SN9C292A and SN9C271M (both made by Sonix), both of which have GPIOs that can be used for such an LED. They don't have a hardware-controlled activity LED, however."

You really should put tape over the camera, just like Zuck :-)

Some cameras work "properly", and some... do not.

Paul

Claims of "driver‑based malware" is coherent. But, it also identifies that this careful individual thinks the victim is on a Windows box. That's not going to work on the BeOS the OP uses.

There is a class of drivers that are "exploitable". Microsoft identified a bunch of them. For example, Windows Defender popped up a notification and told me to remove the Asus AISuite driver in the system32 folder. And this was actually a driver installed when it was a previous OS, and other OSes were installed as an upgrade. The driver was "in" the OS, but wasn't being used, so I could easily agree with the Notification and remove it.

For a Windows user, the working of the Notification is different than the normal Windows Defender response. Windows Defender would normally identify a threat by a signature, and remove it for you ("quarantine"). But since the driver in question is not a malware, but merely an attack surface, Windows Defender does not just grab it and run. Instead, there is a different Notification alerting you to the issue.

And I think this scam is a bit on the old side. This example is six years old. There is probably an assumption of a Windows user here as well. The language in this one seems more of a foreigner.

From 2024.

Paul

I *am* the email provider. :-)

I run some spam s*it, but there is alwaqys a new one

Its a well constructed email. That's why they used an image.

The AI I used (Copilot) read the image text without any apparent difficulty.