Got something very interesting in the mail a few days ago – a blackmail letter!Claiming that someone discovered that I have been unfaithful to my wife (which I haven’t been, I assure you).Obviously a phishing scam, but while these kinds of things may be common in email spamboxes, when USPS is used, it’s a felony.I did some research and it looks very much like a copycat of the Ashley Madison blackmail letters that went out last December, except the version I received only requires a name and an address.My name was only mentioned twice, and no other names were named.I’m attaching redacted copies.Compare the letter I received (below) to the Ashley Madison one linked above.The line spacing within-paragraph is the same, the font face is the same, the spacing between paragraphs is the same (which is noteworthy since it’s rather large spacing), the requested amount ($2k) is exactly the same except that my version includes a comma in the number figure, the language and font styling describing the “Receiving Bitcoin Address” is exactly the same, as is the wording from that point onward about things like “payment must be received by…” the “THIS DOCUMENT IS TWO-SIDED” language on the bottom is also identical, although mine is right-aligned.

It’s such a close match that it’s obviously related to AM, but who would have taken the time to start with a physical letter and then match the formatting exactly in their own word template?Doesn’t make sense, unless there’s just one guy doing all this, which I doubt.I suspect that the digital file template that was used in the original AM blackmails is being shared on the darkwebs, although I haven’t ventured out to confirm.Sharing of source material is common, especially when the originator is feeling the heat and needs plausible deniability.Happened with the Mirai IoT Botnet source code.The envelope used a physical stamp, and was sent from “Pittsburgh 150.” Impossible to say exactly where that is, but 150 is the first three in the 5-digit zip for the wide Pittsburgh region.I sent my original copy to the Pittsburgh US Postal Inspector, and I also filed a report with my local borough police in case these guys are shot-gunning letters to everyone in the neighborhood.It kind of unnerves me to imagine someone as nearby as downtown taking the time to stuff the envelope and drop it in the mailbox with my name on it, though.

The day I received it, I found myself on edge when cars slowed down in front of our house.I suspect they got my address from the same place that junk mailers got it from.We’ll see what the inspector general finds, if anything.I doubt they’ll get much from the letter I sent them since I handled it so much, but maybe they’ll find something somewhere else.On the cost issue from the perspective of the attacker: I’d be curious to know the response rates to postal letters versus spam emails, if the exact same message were sent out.I’d naturally predict that postal response rates would be much higher.But how much higher do they need to be, economically speaking?I’m having trouble finding an exact number (I know it’s in Brian Kreb’s Spam Nation, amazing book by the way), but an old estimate I found is that spam costs $0.00001 per email.So the response rate to a physical letter has to be at least 44,000 times higher than for a single spam email in order for it to make financial sense.

I wouldn’t be surprised if it were.At 50 cents each and at 2k payout you’d only need a response rate of 1/4000 in order to break even.Other considerations are that, for the letter I received, the attacker had to know that I am currently married, to a woman.They did not need to know my gender.My next curiosity is to see what’s available in the way of address list specificity.texas bitcoin conference 2015Maybe there is a specific list of “addresses of people married to a woman.” That’d be interesting.icp bitcoinI’d also be interested to see what the street value is of each bit of information, e.g.buy bitcoin localbitcoinsthe price of an address, birthday, home ownership status, credit cards owned, web searching behavior, etc.bitcoin medici

But I need to prepare a bit more before I delve into the darkwebs.As for whether I match an AM profile, I’d suspect that if I did, I would have gotten the AM-specific letter, but who knows.Update 11/9/2016: I made a first foray into the darkweb using Tor running on Tails in a VM (on a usb stick soon), but I didn’t find anything yet.My scans (nothing received at the bitcoin address yet, I already checked.how to install bitcoin qtProbably unique anyways.): David Eargle is a doctoral candidate in the Information Systems and Technology Management Area at the University of Pittsburgh in the Katz Graduate School of Business.bitcoin mining with pythonHe is currently a NSF Graduate Research Fellow.sms bitcoin walletHe completed a joint baccalaureate-master’s program in information systems management at Brigham Young University, completing the IS PhD preparation program and graduating magna cum laude with University Honors.bitcoin wallet github

His research interests include human-computer interaction and information security.He has coauthored several articles in these areas using neurophysiological and other methodologies in outlets such as the Journal of the Association for Information Systems, the European Journal of Information Systems, the International Conference on Information Systems, and the Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences), along with the Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI).bitcoin wallet githubMore about the author → Edit This content is open source.Please help improve it.Odd News Scams Infidelity, portrayed by a stock photo.October 28, 2016 Lower Merion scam claims you cheated on your spouse, asks for Bitcoin blackmail Some blackmail artists in Lower Merion Township who apparently spent too much time watching daytime television claim to know of your infidelities.

Police said Thursday that many residents have received letters claiming scammers know you're cheating on your spouse and have evidence that they'll show to your wife and family (and presumably have Joey Greco ambush you).They are demanding $2,000."Ignoring this letter will result in your wife and the people closest to her finding about your adultery," the letter reads.RELATED: With risk of humiliation, hacks, etc., why do people cheat?Lower Merion police stressed that the scam is completely bogus, writing on Facebook, "Please DO NOT give them any money.Shred the letter and throw it away."Oh, and according to CBS3, the scammers asked for their victims to pay the blackmail in Bitcoin, because of course they wanted to be paid in Bitcoin.The moral of the story: Even if you're cheating on your spouse, never believe a blackmailer that wants to be compensated in Bitcoin.Workers help New Jersey woman find necklace buried in hospital waste Some House Democrats mull over how to oust Pelosi as leader Mueller and Comey not as close as Trump and others suggest Depp's 'assassin' comments the latest in celebrity anger N.J.