I received the below email. Is this seriously going to happen or just a phishing email and how does he knows my password and my primary email

There are databases out there of hacked account information. You can check to see if any of yours is by using this website:

https://haveibeenpwned.com/

That can give the creep who came with this email enough information on you to scare you. If you are still using that password for anything, it would be advisable to change it. Not because this person has it but because it's out there and associated with your email.

I concur it is indeed fake, I received one of these emails, evidently my details had been leaked from Linkedin. Thankfully I don't even have a webcam though so I soon concluded it was bollocks, though I was initially worried as it contained a password I have used.

The pixel thing however is legitimate and a very simple way to track email opens it is just badly explained by someone whose first language clearly is not English. It is in fact exactly how Mailchimp works to track email opens and is incredibly common. It is quite easy to create a 1 pixel white or transparent image file in Paint, you then host that image on a website somewhere, you add a link to that image to the email via simple php request which passes in the recipients email address as a unique identifier, when someone opens the email unless their email client or browser is set to suppress remote images the URL is loaded, the php script runs and records that xyz@abc.com has loaded that image and therefore seen the email.

It is however very rudimentary and no guarantee the person has actually seen the email as some mail servers, antivirus etc. will follow the links in emails to check they are not malicious before the email even reaches the recipient.

You don't in fact even need to have an actual image for this to work you just tell the email client there is one i.e. <img src=https://imascumbagscammer.com/heresafakeimage.php?option=heopenedit&emailaddress =xyz@abc.comcammer.com/heresafakeimage.php?option=heopenedit&emailaddress=xyz@abc.com />

Please see my response above. At some point, you probably used that same password on an online account that was associated with your email account. That online account information fell into the hands of scammers.

Abuhmaidan12345 wrote:

Excuse my poor knowledge. How does the guy knows that I’m on **** website and watching a video and he got the access while I’m busy watching.

A very large percent of the world's population watches adult entertainment. So, the scammer has a very good chance of being right. He doesn't actually know anything. Or, have access to your computer. But, even if this were true (it's NOT) unless your a minister, its likely that a) no one you know would actually care and b) many of the people you know also watch adult entertainment.

It is a scam email. Delete it and move on.

Avoid phishing emails, fake 'virus' alerts, phony support calls, and other scams - Apple Support

It's a scam.

Kurt Lang wrote:

And just because this scammer said it, that makes it true?

So if I said:

I know you're watching adult videos and you must pay me $1,000,000,000 dollars by 10 PM tomorrow, or I'll tell your mom on you!

Did you believe that? I hope so. I could really use the money.

I'm trying to imagine what my mother would have said. Depending on the day, it could have ranged from "Don't you have better things to do with your time" to "Can you show me some?". 😁

He doesn't know you are watching ****. He can not access your camera, or anything else on your phone.

And just because this scammer said it, that makes it true?

So if I said:

I know you're watching adult videos and you must pay me $1,000,000,000 dollars by 10 PM tomorrow, or I'll tell your mom on you!

Did you believe that? I hope so. I could really use the money.

I've also read a report of a similar scam, but with a higher initial investment, in which men in wealthier neighborhoods were finding letters in their mailboxes telling them that someone had pictures documenting their infidelities which would be sent to their wife if they didn't pay up. That must have wrecked the day of more than one man with a guilty conscience.

"There isn't a single thing about it that's "unique"."

Yes we are on the same page with that, the point is that the sender uses this terminology (as I have acknowledged already poor English) to explain something which is technically perfectly possible, i.e. to know or at least assume an email has been received. I felt the point needed elaboration as based on your initial dismissal outright of "unique pixel" many people reading your post might infer that tracking is not possible.

Kurt Lang wrote:

"Can you show me some?". 😁

Now there's a hip mom! 😀

She was born in 1918. Her advice to me when I went off to college was "Enjoy s*x while you're young. Just don't let it interfere with your school work."

Kurt Lang wrote:

Enjoy s*x while you're young.

Hmm. Six? I prefer the number three, myself. Or is that sax? I used to have an alto, many years ago. 😉

I will refrain from making any of the off colour jokes that spring to mind. I try to limit the number of times a day I upset the Hosts.

It is quite easy to create a 1 pixel white or transparent image file…

Thanks, but already known. The pixel trick in an email tells the sender you've viewed the email, and that the address is live (among the thousands of ones they send out that bounce because they don't exist).

As I'm sure you know, when you open an email and you have your email client set to load images automatically, the pixel is retrieved from the remote server it's on in order to display the "image" in the email. That server picks up the email address it was sent to. From there, your address gets added to a list of verified emails so it can be used to spoof more spam, get more spam sent to you, and so on. It's why you should never have your email client set to load images automatically.

But, the pixel itself is just a 1x1 raster image pixel you can create with any raster image editor (Photoshop, Preview, Acorn, etc.). There isn't a single thing about it that's "unique".