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back to article Ashley Madison blackmailers try again with snail mail

Five months after the adulterer-friendly dating website Ashley Madison was spectacularly hacked, it seems blackmailers are still trying to dig their claws into people who signed up to the site. blackmail Blackmail by post? How 20th century According to security blogger Graham Cluley, some former members of the site are now …

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  1. WolfFan Silver badge

    Iron Duke time

    "Publish and be damned to you" would be my reply, should one of those notes show up here.

    No, I'm not in the database, as I hadn't even heard of AM before the hack. Should it be that one of my email addresses somehow was entered into the database, my answer would still be the same.

    4 0 Reply
  2. John Tserkezis

    "Should it be that one of my email addresses somehow was entered into the database, my answer would still be the same."

    I was thinking the same thing. For blackmail to work, they need information on you that's going to cause some embarrasment or harm.

    All I can say, is if you think you can do better than I've already done to myself in the past, bring it on.

    8 0 Reply
    1. VBF
      Reply Icon

      You too, eh?

      0 0 Reply
  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Same response

    I'd give the same response I give to the various spammers and cold-callers.

    Nothing.

    2 0 Reply
  4. mark 177
    WTF?

    Why not report them to the police? If they require payment, they must be giving out their bank account details or address or some way you can contact them.

    2 1 Reply
    1. Danny 14
      Reply Icon

      At 4167 dollars im guessing its his annual gas and electric bill.

      1 0 Reply
    2. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Hmm, if only there was some kind of relatively anonymous digital currency that these scammers could be using?

      0 2 Reply
      1. JeffyPoooh
        Reply Icon
        Pint

        "... relatively anonymous digital currency..."

        I'm glad that you included the word 'relatively'.

        0 0 Reply
      2. NotBob
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        Should be able to narrow it down to a source area (you can fudge it, but only by going to the zip code from which it is mailed). Enough of these show up, the plods shouldn't have too much trouble finding a source.

        It's been done before with more dangerous payloads...

        0 0 Reply
    3. joeldillon
      Reply Icon

      Or they could demand you send it via Western Union to some country (where they live) that doesn't give a damn - Kazakhstan, Nigeria, whatever.

      0 0 Reply
  5. chivo243 Silver badge
    Trollface

    Freudian slip?

    extort money from members? Not on El Reg ;-}

    1 0 Reply
  6. Andy 97

    You can hardly believe that people would be as misguided to actually put their real address on a website offering services like this.

    "Did I.Q's suddenly drop while I was away?"

    1 0 Reply
    1. dogged
      Reply Icon

      even if they have used their real address, nobody is stupid enough to believe that this is normal practise. Thus a "return to sender, not known at this address" is all that's required.

      0 0 Reply
      1. The Boojum
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        No, no. Just forward to Ashley Madison, marked 'For the Attention of Accounts Payable.'

        3 0 Reply
    2. VinceH
      Reply Icon
      Coat

      "Did I.Q's suddenly drop while I was away?"

      Don't forget that half the population has a lower than average IQ.

      1 0 Reply
    3. VBF
      Reply Icon

      No....they've always been this low...think "Darwin Awards" !

      1 0 Reply
    4. chivo243 Silver badge
      Reply Icon
      Holmes

      it will happen

      I can totally imagine someone getting this letter and losing it.... If they were naive enough to believe AM was real, then the threatening letter is totally within the realm of reality of said Casanovas.

      How many people question a fire alarm without smoke or fire?

      0 0 Reply

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