Attempted blackmail via email

[Tubetec]

Im quite lucky by the sounds of it so , I only get spam once every couple of months on average .

The 48 hour deadline passed without incident,
I never did online banking so thats one less attack vector for the spambots.

 

[cyrano]

I doubt online banking an sich is a vector.

I've been banking online since before the internet and I hardly get any spam. I do get some spam about bitcoin, but that's related to a course I gave a few months back. Did a lot of research and some of it was via Google. That obviously gets picked up or even bought from Google.

I probably don't get much spam because I used to hit back when the return address was available. Unfortunately, the majority of spam these days doesn't even have a working return address...

 

[Tubetec]

For all the talk about GDPR and data protection , I can see a major sh!t storm brewing about how Ireland handled peoples private data , the office of the data protection comission here is overwhelmed by enquiries and certainly has shown bias in favour of the government on several key data protection issues . We manage a lot of the data for 'rest of world' for many big corporations here , and its all more or less been handed over to US interests on the basis of 'Securitisation' , our personal data has become the goose that lays the golden egg for someone thats for sure .

One very telling issue here in Ireland was the bringing in of a postal code system recently  , not one that identifies the street you live on like the UK has ,but one that basically connects a person with their property to a geographic location so that presently semi state /soon to be privatised buisness can trawl the database either for defaulters or to market more stuff .

I got a phone call yesterday from 'Irish Water' telling me I because I was a priority customer they were just calling to 'see how things were' after a recent upgrade to the system ,  I told him I hadnt and didnt sign up for marketing ,but apparently now a cold call isnt even marketing anymore , I told him I wasnt giving consent for the recording of the call either .
When I told him Id lived in the area 40 years and the water quality in a local pond /lagoon/amenity park /estuary was way way worse than anytime in the past ,he said unless I gave consent to record he couldnt report what I had said ,the call promptly ended after me re-iterating my rights under data protection .

Theres a very fine line holding together the government here just now , we have Brexit looming but the two main parties involved in the power sharing are looking like ready to burst apart at any moment , with open confrontation between Varadkar and Mairtin on the floor of the Dail.(parliment)

 

[DarwinYang]

I know the thread is four years old, the issue of attempted blackmail through email remains relevant today. Cybersecurity threats and online scams continue to evolve, and it's crucial to stay informed and vigilant to protect oneself from such malicious activities.
Tubetec's experience serves as a reminder to be cautious when encountering suspicious emails and not to engage with blackmailers. If anyone comes across similar situations, seeking guidance from reliable sources like digitalinvestigation.com can provide valuable insights on how to handle such threats.

 

[iampoor1]

I know the thread is four years old, the issue of attempted blackmail through email remains relevant today. Cybersecurity threats and online scams continue to evolve, and it's crucial to stay informed and vigilant to protect oneself from such malicious activities.
Tubetec's experience serves as a reminder to be cautious when encountering suspicious emails and not to engage with blackmailers. If anyone comes across similar situations, seeking guidance from reliable sources like digitalinvestigation.com can provide valuable insights on how to handle such threats.

LOL This is literally a chatgpt based bot.

Funny how these ai tools now have a "recognizable speaking voice".

 

[Matador]

LOL This is literally a chatgpt based bot.

There are many forms of bots, and ChatGPT is only one. In the realm of modern day internet forums, it's common to run across posts you feel might be based on bots. So things to keep mind when you think a post is coming from a bot:
1) English may be their second language, so may appear strange to a native speaker.
2) They have misunderstood the question posed in the thread, and thus are responding incorrectly.
3) It may indeed be a bot, however it may be impossible to tell.
In summary, it's possible that it.might be a bot, but it may also be a real person with a different writing style. We all have our own differences which are all worthy or respect.

 

[iampoor1]

There are many forms of bots, and ChatGPT is only one. In the realm of modern day internet forums, it's common to run across posts you feel might be based on bots. So things to keep mind when you think a post is coming from a bot:
1) English may be their second language, so may appear strange to a native speaker.
2) They have misunderstood the question posed in the thread, and thus are responding incorrectly.
3) It may indeed be a bot, however it may be impossible to tell.
In summary, it's possible that it.might be a bot, but it may also be a real person with a different writing style. We all have our own differences which are all worthy or respect.

I generally agree, but look at the other posts from this account. They all read exactly like a chatbot. Shilling a questionable "digital invesitgation" service is a very big red flag too. Of course if this is a real person ill wait for a response and if need be apologize....but there is something very strange about this accounts posts, and it sure reads to me in "openai" dialect, lol!

 

[PermO]

The "uncanny valley" writing style is defenitely a thing

 

[Matador]

I generally agree, but look at the other posts from this account.

(actually the response I added was from a chat bot)

 

[JohnRoberts]

Hey Alexis, write this post for me...

[edit- for a while I tried to use chapGPT websites that claim to detect AI text when I saw suspicious posts.... but life is too short. /edit]

JR

 

[iampoor1]

(actually the response I added was from a chat bot)

Lol well played! You got me

 

[PermO]

I was thinking this forum could actually use a "AI" bot thing, like twitter has it's bot now that you can ask questions.

Let me introduce you to, "The part sourcing bot"

DIY is fun, until you have to source your parts

So you start filling your cart with parts, all is fine and then you add that switch.. oh that's expensive !
So you google that switch and notice you can get it of 1/3 of the price at a different retailer, but that will add extra shipping costs. So you start moving all of your order to that retailer... until you find out they don't sell your opamp.
And so you can go on and on and on and spend many nights with 20+ tabs open adding, deleting to come to a sensible buy. Some small ceramic capacitor can cost 0,22 at one retailer and 3,15 at another... to me, that makes no sense at all.

So, a bot that takes your parts list, add your favorite brands, knows your location and finds you the most sensible deal in a matter of seconds.

That would be a cool thing I guess.