Apple Intelligence now features Image Playground, Genmoji, Writing Tools enhancements, seamless support for ChatGPT, and visual intelligence.

Apple Intelligence has also begun language expansion with localized English support for Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, and the U.K. Learn more >

You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

You've been hacked "Hello pervert" Email

I received a message from my own mailbox - what do I do?????


Hello pervert, I've sent this message from your iCloud mail. 

 

I want to inform you about a very bad situation for you. However, you can benefit from it, if you will act wisеly.

 

Have you heard of Pegasus? This is a spyware program that installs on computers and smartphones and allows hackers to monitor the activity of device owners. It provides access to your webcam, messengers, emails, call records, etc. It works well on Android, iOS, and Windows. I guess, you already figured out where I’m getting at.

 

It’s been a few months since I installed it on all your devices because you were not quite choosy about what links to click on the intеrnеt. During this period, I’ve learned about all aspects of your private life, but one is of special significance to me.

 

****

 

I doubt you’d want your friends, family and co-workers to know about it. However, I can do it in a few clicks.

 

Every number in your contact list will suddenly receive these vidеоs– on WhatsApp, on Telegram, on Instagram, on Facebook, on email – everywhere. It is going to be a tsunami that will sweep away everything in its path, and first of all, your fоrmеr life.

 

Don’t think of yourself as an innocent victim. No one knows where your реrvеrsiоn might lead in the future, so consider this a kind of deserved рunishmеnt to stop you.

 

I’m some kind of God who sees everything. However, don’t panic. As we know, God is merciful and forgiving, and so do I. But my mercy is not free.

 

Transfer 800 USD to my Litecoin (LTC) wallet: ltc1q0sfhklq82kxps8kpx7e4el538jf6rs6h3x34ta

 

Once I receive confirmation of the transaction, I will permanently delete all videos compromising you, uninstаll Pegasus from all of your devices, and disappear from your life. You can be sure – my benefit is only money. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be writing to you, but destroy your life without a word in a second.

 

I’ll be notified when you open my email, and from that moment you have exactly 48 hours to send the money. If cryptocurrencies are unchartered waters for you, don’t worry, it’s very simple. Just google “crypto exchange” or "buy Litecoin" and then it will be no harder than buying some useless stuff on Amazon.

 

I strongly warn you against the following:

* Do not reply to this email. I've sent it from your iCloud mail.

* Do not contact the police. I have access to all your devices, and as soon as I find out you ran to the cops, videos will be published.

* Don’t try to reset or destroy your devices. As I mentioned above: I’m monitoring all your activity, so you either agree to my terms or the vidеоs are published.

Also, don’t forget that cryptocurrencies are anonymous, so it’s impossible to identify me using the provided address.

 

Good luck, my perverted friend. I hope this is the last time we hear from each other.

And some friendly advice: from now on, don’t be so careless about your online security.


[Edited by Moderator]

Posted on Apr 29, 2024 12:46 PM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on May 31, 2024 10:23 PM

I also received this same email yesterday. How could they sneak into my email even though I didn't open any links??? Can someone write what happened after 48 hours? thanks

113 replies

May 8, 2024 7:33 AM in response to lelandeos

lelandeos wrote:

I received this same email, but the address is exactly my icloud, @me and @Mac accounts. how do I know or check they don't have access to my computer or devices? everything I've read about this email seems like it's a scam, but it def appears as though it came form my account

They don't have access to anything. It's a scam. Why would they bother spending huge amounts of time and money, not to mention the risk of criminal prosecution, to get access to your computer when they can just send a scary email and frighten you into sending them money?

Jun 10, 2024 2:19 PM in response to lelandeos

The key point to understand is, the petty cybercriminal:

  • didn't use your account, didn't hack it, and didn't get your password,
  • did fill the "From: " field of the email he send with your email address, which is a public information not protected by any password. Your email address, is not your account, and is public as is public as your postal address.


If you are interested in finding a clear proof of this fact, you just have to get the full headers of the scam message, and look to each line starting with "Received:", the last one of these lines will clearly show you from which domain was sent the original attack. The hacked account, is an account giving access to this system, for email, but also for some other kinds of accesses: web, file sharing…


You don't have to change your password.

You can just delete this scam message.

You don't have to block the sender ( based on the "From:" field ) because it is your real email address.

You don't have to report this attack, because there are millions every day, and to prosecute the authors, we would need a real international collaboration to hunt cybercriminals. We are not in a world where this is possible.

May 18, 2024 2:06 AM in response to Lawrence Finch

Just want to add this post to note that while it could be the case, in this instance, it's not the case. A force-capitalisation of the "iCloud" copy-pasted from the original post shows that it is, in fact, an L. Just for those who are seeing this and thinking "Omg mine's an actual L, my email asking for money must be real!" Regardless though, the email address appearing to be real does not make it real. People can make an email seem like it is coming from an address that it is not.

May 15, 2024 6:18 PM in response to klepsdiphone5s

klepsdiphone5s wrote:

I have the same email. How do I find the IP Address and the user who sent the email?

You don't. Each user has a private IP address, with the only public address being the Router that it is connected to. Even if you view the Raw email by selecting the email and going to View > Message > Raw Source, you will see IP addresses of the hops it takes to get to you with the last "Received:" section showing the closest to the originator, but it will not identify the sender.

May 27, 2024 6:33 PM in response to LaAlguien

Hi, I just received the same exact email. Starting of the email is a scam. The licence cost of operating pegasus is more than 500k. It is only used to hack politicians and high ranking government oficials. Further more the email claims to have been sent from your own icloud, to trick you into thinking that, the scammer put your email address in the description of the email to make it look as if it was sent from your own email


You've been hacked "Hello pervert" Email

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.