Say the Secret Word

Mary Klinge didn’t waste any time.

“I know your password,” she told me in recent email. “More to the point, I know your secret and I have evidence of this.”

Ms.Klinge, which I suspect is a fake name, caught me flatfooted by mentioning one of my old passwords. I’ve been the victim of identity theft so this opening line was a bit disturbing.

Things got even creepier as Mary went on to explain that she had setup “a malware on the adult video clips (porno) and you visited this web site to experience fun (you know what I mean).”

No, I don’t know what you mean. I don’t go look at adult video clips (porno) so maybe Mary means somebody else. Then she said she had set a webcam in my computer and gathered all my contacts. Now that’s just mean.

She wrote that she put in much more time than she should have investigating “into your life and created a two-screen video.”

“The 1st part shows the video you had been viewing and 2nd part displays the recording from your cam (it’s you doing nasty things).”

Really? What sort of nasty things? I cleaned the toilet yesterday and that was all sorts of nasty, but I think I’ll skip the video.

“Honestly,” Mary told me. “I'm ready to forget everything about you and allow you to continue with your regular life. And my goal is to offer you two options that can accomplish this. These two choices to either ignore this letter, or perhaps pay me $3600.”

If I ignored the email, Mary said she “definitely will send out your video to all your contacts including family members, colleagues, etc. It doesn't shield you from the humiliation yourself will face when family and friends uncover your sordid videos from me.”

I See You

Well, myself certainly doesn’t want to face humiliation from my friends and family. And myself is really appalled by blackmailer’s abuse of the English language.

Like all blackmailers, Mary warned me not to go to the police.

“Let me tell you,” she told me, “I have taken steps in order that this mail cannot be tracked back to me also it won't stop the evidence from destroying your life.”

Mary assured me that she wasn’t seeking to break my bank; she just wanted compensation for the time she put into her invasion of my privacy. She urged me to make a Bitcoin payment for her “privacy fee,” which would guarantee that my secret would remain secret.


“I'll erase the recording immediately,” she wrote. “You continue on with your daily life as though nothing ever happened.”

Mary Klinge gave me two days to payments, warning that if I didn’t, she would “definately (sic) send out your video to your entire contacts including friends and family, co-workers, and so on. You better come up with an excuse for friends and family before they find out.”

I wasn’t aware of it at that time, but it seems that I was the target of an email scam called “sextortion,” and, according to the FBI, the perpetrator is usually an adult pretending to be a teenager and they target many victims at once.

Well, I definately didn’t send any Bitcoins to Mary and the deadline came and went with nothing happening, which is good because I hadn’t come up with an excuse for friends and family.

But if you do get a video of me doing nasty things, could you please send it to me? I could use a thrill.

Comments

Bijoux said…
What the hell? Was this in your spam folder? I have not heard of this, but I have to say, I'm freaked out that an old password was mentioned in it.
Rob K said…
Hey, Bijoux!

No, the email came in the regular folder, which makes it even creepier! Apparently this a thing happening out there in the internets, but I want nothing to do with it!


Jay said…
Wow. I suspect that if you'd watched the video it would have infected your computer with something nasty, but that 'something nasty' would have been the only nasty thing in it. Scammers are the scum of the earth. Glad you didn't fall for it!
Rob K said…
Thanks, Jay.

The whole experience was rather spooky. And we certainly agree about scammers: they are the scum of the earth.
Ron said…
"But if you do get a video of me doing nasty things, could you please send it to me? I could use a thrill."

HAHAHAHAHA! OMG Rob, that's hilarious!

But I have to say, this experience you had with Mary Klinge made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. What a CREEPY thing to have happen! And I got the heebie geebies when she talked about the webcam she set up in your computer because I am so paranoid about the webcam on the top of my monitor being used to watch me. In fact, I even put a piece of masking tape over the lens to block it.

Love the photographs you used for this post because it made the story even creepier.

Have a great week, buddy!
Rob K said…
Hey, Ron, how's it going?

CREEPY is definitely the word to describe these freaks. I like your idea about taping up the webcam. You never know who might be watching!

Have a great week, buddy, and don't get caught doing nasty things!

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