AppRiver, based in Gulf Breeze, is a worldwide leader in email and Web security. Their team has discovered a new scam tied to the dating site Ashley Madison that is circulating on the internet.
From the Appriver blog:
“We recently uncovered messages that target Ashley Madison account holders directly. The sender is attempting to extort/blackmail the individual named in the message to the tune of about $450(USD).
The messages state that the sender will mail a letter outlining their activity on the Ashley Madison website to the individual’s home address unless they make a one-time payment to the attacker in the amount of 2 Bitcoins.
The threats are backed up with what appears to be data stolen in the breach which include home address, last 4 digits of credit card data and transaction logs.
The messages are signed “Impact Team†the same group responsible for the breach itself, though it would be impossible to substantiate that claim.