Added on: 10/09/2024
Phishing emails aren’t anything new. But scammers always find ways to take advantage of people. And this one is no different.
A new type of phishing email is targeting Gmail and Outlook users, where you are informed that your partner was caught cheating.
To make it even more credible, scammers use breached information they find online (full legal name, emails, address, pet names - anything they can get their hands on).
One of the recipients mentioned: “They have used our full names (even my second last name that I barely use anywhere) and I am not sure how they found this information. I am pretty sure it's a scam but I couldn't find any information on this online.... anyone had this happen to them? It's so creepy.
The email claims to be from a cybersecurity company, that “found” a data breach containing proof that the husband or wife was caught cheating, and is used by other threat actors.
The email appears like this:
“[Spouse's name] is cheating on your. Here a proof.
As a company engaged in cyber security we've found information to [Spouse's name] that interest you.
We made a full backup of his disk (We have all his address book, social media, history of viewing sites, dating apps, all files, phone numbers, and addresses of all his contacts) and are willing to give you full access to this data. For more details visit our website.”
As Dan Sexton (Chief Technology Officer at Internet Watch Foundation) said, “this is a public health epidemic”.
Everyone responds differently to scams, and unfortunately, there are people that believed they hit rock bottom and couldn’t cope with the stress, and eventually lead to suicide - at least 3 teenagers have committed suicide after being threatened through sextorsion by a group of men calling themselves the “Yahoo Boys”, which have targeted thousands of people in UK and hundreds of thousands globally.
What can you do to prevent this type of attack, or protect against it?
In terms of prevention, I believe it is impossible, or almost impossible. The reason I say this is because our personal information floats constantly on the internet, companies collect massive amounts of data, and data breaches have become an inevitability - take the latest example of a very big breach on NationalPublicData that affected millions of Americans.
But to protect against these attacks, I have a few recommendations:
1. Delete your personal information from old accounts or subscriptions - you can ensure that your information doesn’t get exposed when they go through a data breach
2. Delete your information from data brokers - these brokers are know to collect people’s data from public sources, as well as not so public, so it’s a good idea to get a clean slate
3. Do not access links in weird emails - there are high chances that they contain malware or are used to hook your browser to collect even more info about you
This is the exact reason why I built Sentrya - to protect against these attackers, and clean up my inbox at the same time. So if you’re interested in finding out more about it, check it out here.
Stay safe❤️
Cheating Partner Phishing Email Targeting Gmail and Outlook Users
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