How victims of vile threats have panicked, paid up – then faced more demands
SOME people who are victims of ransomware pay up.
John Partridge – not his real name – broke down in tears to The Mail on Sunday as he admitted paying £250 to criminals, only then to be plagued with further demands for money.
The 65-year-old landscape gardener says: ‘Guilt was at the heart of behaving so irrationally. I had looked at pornography two days earlier. I felt like a naughty schoolboy caught in the act. What if my wife found out? What would the grandchildren think of what I had done?’
Kent-based John adds: ‘I panicked when told they had recorded what I had been watching on a computer webcam. The stress was unbearable. I could not sleep, had panic attacks – my wife thought I was ill. In the end I paid up.’
He managed to pay £250 of the £350 demanded in Bitcoin within the 48-hour ‘deadline’. More ‘ransomware’ demands followed but came to nothing. John deleted them and realised he had been duped by a cruel blackmail trick.
Kerry Fox was a police officer for more than 35 years and still works for the police as a civilian. He recently received a ‘ransomware’ threat. The 60-year-old, from Hampshire, says: ‘The bullying nature of these emails is sickening. Fortunately, I am made of stern stuff and knew I had done nothing wrong. But the fact the technology is out there to spy through people’s computer cameras left me concerned.
‘The first thing I did was put sticky tape over my webcam. I have a couple of teenage boys and also talked to them about this awful crime.’ Kerry told his local police station about the ransom. He says: ‘It is blackmail. If a person makes an unwarranted demand with menaces to gain for either themselves or another with intent to cause loss to another, a sentence of up to 14 years in prison can be given.’
Jenny Millar was a nurse for 48 years and thought she had seen it all, but was left shaken by a ‘ransomware’ attack she received.
She says: ‘The blackmail was nasty and chilled me to the bone. It included my computer username and password and I felt violated. But experience has told me that in a panic situation the best course of action is to take a step back and put on the kettle.’
Jenny, 68, from Headley in Surrey, adds: ‘I sat down to reread the message with a cup of tea. By the end I was almost falling off my chair with laughter. I have never visited an adult website, do not have a computer webcam and having licentious personal information shared with family would not bother me.’
Her advice for targeted victims – whether they have visited adult websites or not – is to ignore it. And make a cup of tea.