We could probably write a newsletter every day with warnings about specific scams, but we’re trying to provide general advice so you can spot them yourself.
One particular style that is doing the rounds at the moment is a blackmail scam – someone apparently has a webcam video of you in a … compromising position. They might include one of your passwords (obtained from a data breach) as ‘proof’ which can make it look even more legitimate and therefore threatening.
Firstly, if you receive such a threat, rest assured it is a scam, delete it and move on.
Secondly, if you do recognise your password in the email, and it’s one you’ve used on multiple sites, treat this as a wakeup call and start changing it – most urgently on any email, banking, financial or other sensitive websites. Read our guide to Choosing & Using Passwords for advice. If you already use a password manager there should be an option to do a password audit – In LastPass this is done as part of the Security Challenge.
If you are worried, please don’t be embarrassed about forwarding any email to us to check, or calling us to talk about it. We treat everything with complete respect and confidentiality.
