And the weak reporting that tabloid journalism provides.
For a few days now, the tabloid reports have been abuzz: Giulia Siegel is being blackmailed. Unknown hackers allegedly took recordings of her while she was viewing certain sites and doing “dirty things”. She was told this in a blackmail email. Apparently unknown hackers also took over her account and spied on her.
For example, you read on VIP.de :
It was supposed to be a relaxing vacation - but for Giulia Siegel (43) it turned into a nightmare. The model suddenly received a blackmail email asking her to pay $2,250. Apparently because the scammers had dirty videos of her.
If you take a closer look at this blackmail email that is being shown in the media, you will see that this entire story is completely nonsensical and is just a current fraud method that is randomly happening to many thousands of people.
What it's about
In the media, Ms. Siegel shows a printed version of this email. This printout makes it very clear what type of email it is. From the article on VIP.de you can see:

This printed blackmail email is of course not a personal attempt at blackmail against Ms. Siegel, but rather a spam email that has been sent for weeks. Of course, we also receive this type of spam email. We have already warned several times about this spam email, which is sent in both English and German. By the way, not only we warned about this spam email, but also the police.
For example, the Lower Saxony police reported how this fraud works. Different people are randomly contacted by email (personally and impersonally). Apparently a video recording was made in which the person being addressed could be seen watching porn videos on the Internet. The person previously clicked on a video and at the same time ran software that was supposed to make this possible. If the person addressed does not comply with the payment request within 48 hours, the explosive footage will be distributed on the Internet, including on various porn sites using the person's contacts.
No proof of the existence of the recordings is provided. We have several different versions of the text.

What's behind it?
By inventing alleged masturbation recordings, fraudsters try to get their victims to pay sums of money in Bitcoin. By giving the recipients a password, the fraudsters present themselves as competent hackers in order to further unsettle people. However, the recordings in question do not exist, which is why such messages can simply be moved to the spam folder. This can help ensure that similar emails end up directly in the spam folder in the future.
The East Hesse police also recently published that these emails inform recipients that their computer has been hacked. In addition, malware was installed that allows access to the WEB cam of the affected PC. Access was possible because the internet user had allegedly accessed websites with erotic content.
The user was filmed when visiting such websites. The blackmailer threatens to publish the contents of the film if a demanded amount of money is not paid. The money should be transferred in the internet currency “Bitcoin”. To date, there is no evidence that computers were hacked or malware was installed regarding this scam. The investigators are currently not aware of the existence of videos that were allegedly made . The police advise: If you receive such an email, please do not respond to the demands. Please delete such emails immediately.
How do the criminals know Ms. Siegel's password?
Ms. Siegel wonders why the criminals know her password. There is a story in the tabloid media that she was hacked because she logged into a public hotel network. Sure, public networks always pose a danger, but in the case of spam blackmail the reason often lies elsewhere. Our cooperation partner Watchlist Internet describes that through hacks of unencrypted databases, lists of passwords repeatedly find their way onto the Internet and are made freely accessible or sold there. If you use the same password in multiple places, it is difficult to determine where the password came from on the Internet.
What can I do to protect myself?
- Move the email to your spam folder and ignore similar messages.
- Renew your password to prevent unauthorized access to personal accounts.
- Update your passwords regularly. This way you minimize the chances of suffering damage from various database hacks.
- Keep your software up to date and continually install updates. This is the most effective way to avoid security gaps that make your system or webcam vulnerable.
- Tape over your webcam when not in use.
Ignore emails asking you to pay for made-up masturbation videos. The video does not exist and therefore there is nothing to worry about.
Disservice
Little research, lots of drama. A poor performance of tabloid journalism. RTL puts it on TV, Vox puts it on TV, the Abendzeitung reports on it, Tag24 reports on it, VIP.de reports on it and a few other tabloid sites, but no one noticed that it was this typical spam email, which the police and sites like us have been reporting on for weeks.
See also: Police press release
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