How to stop Pegasus Spyware email spam?

I’ve had an email sent from my own email address threatening contact everyone who has my address. They say they are using Pegasus and will release my information in two day. Would they normally send proof of what they say they have?

I got the same thing but mine has my phone number, first and last name and a google image of my house. they said they have my camera hacked and my mic. is it still a scam or should I be worried.

I got the same email this morning at 12.59am (Pacific time zone). Sounds like a phishing scam. But it is interesting that it was send to my IOx email. How did he or she find my email?

There have been multiple variations of this scam for at least two years. I especially like when it says they captured me doing naughty things on my computer's video camera. That would be literally magical since I don't have any kind of camera on my Mac.

Delete and ignore. They do not have the information about you they claim.

Yes, I too received the one about how they caught me doing naughty things on my camera and they asked me for a lot of money. I deleted it and have not heard from them again. They send multiple emails all over the place because they know they will find someone who will panic and fall for their scam

How many times do we have to say it's a scam, and they have nothing?

And don't bother reporting them to Apple's phishing email or anywhere else. Scammers change the source account as often as a nursery changes diapers. By the time they look into your report, the scammers will have stopped using that address and moved on to another one.

lewisp002 wrote:

is this definitely a hoax? the pegasus spy ware software is real apparently

Pegasus and other espionage tools are real, yes.

If you were targeted by those, your adversaries would not need to send you a plebeian mail message begging for cryptocurrency.

Your adversaries would have full control of your device, and would have stolen everything already.

And the security vulnerability claimed here would be getting wall-to-wall coverage. (As Pegasus gets, and the other similar espionage tools to a lesser extent.)

Truth? The best advertisements, the best propaganda, the best scams, all of these will contain truth. That’s the hook.

One of the more successful political strategies a while back contained a one-sentence quote, and it enraged many listeners. Until they learned the subsequent sentence, or the full context of the quote, and the wisdom, that is. But they were too busy getting mad at the out-of-context quote to check on that. Getting mad, getting angry, getting scared, strong emotions make us dumb, vulnerable, and all too willing to spend money on sketchy products or on sketchy claims.

Yes, Pegasus exists. But that allows deep access into your device, access that would allow directly stealing everything, money, payment cards, everything. Sending out spam using social engineering requires a much smaller investment, too.

A few of the many other scams: Recognize and avoid phishing messages, phony support calls, and other scams - Apple Support

Bratz1218 Said:

"Pegasus scam: I’ve received an email saying: 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 wisely.[...]"

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Report this to Apple and Others:

Next time this happens, take forward this message to reportphishing@apple.com. You can als report it to your local Federal Government.  Overview my User Tip: Using the Photos App to Report Scams: - User Tip

MahMah103 wrote:

I just opened the exact e-mail they sent you. Is it a scam or not?

SCAM

So the folks that sent that message included no photos or videos they claimed to possess so no included proof, and the folks that claimed total control of your equipment didn’t simply swipe your credit card info and other sensitive info and go on a spending spree?

Yeah. It’s a scam.

Some of the older versions of this spam scam included your chosen password from some old service breach, which definitely spooked some folks, and very effectively showed the risks of password reuse.

A few of the many other scams: Recognize and avoid phishing messages, phony support calls, and other scams - Apple Support

Yes.. it’s a scam. Delete it and move on

Marshu_boy wrote:

I know it’s a scam but how did they send an email to myself from my own id about Pegasus ?

Is that serious ? They can login to my emails and can changed everything?

The sender lied about Pegasus.

The sender lied about the photos.

The sender lied about the breach.

Yes, the sender even lied about the email sender.

The sender LIED ABOUT EVERYTHING.

Well, that’s not entirely correct.

The sender didn’t lie about the relative difficulty of tracking the cryptocurrency, as those are largely for speculation and for criming, but relative difficulty also makes it hard for the sender to tell who sent them the cryptocurrency. But creative writer that sent that fiction doesn’t care about that detail, because, well, “free money”. But make one mistake with handling within the blockchain past present or future though, and your identity and your transaction history is fully exposed, so we can hope these writers of creative fiction are eventually exposed.

Sending mail addresses can be lies; faked, forged, or spoofed.

Calling and texting telephone numbers can be lies, too; can also be faked, forged, or spoofed.

And yes, I could be lying here.

Yes, of course it's a hoax. Using Pegasus as the scare tactic is just the latest version.

This email started out at least two years ago (more like three) with claims that FBI or CIA had found criminal activity on your computer. Then for a long time, the claim was they had installed an impossible Trojan virus on your computer. Impossible because there's no such thing as a Trojan virus. It's one or the other. The latest version is the claim they've installed Pegasus on your computer.

Otherwise, the text is virtually the same from one scam to the next. All involving sending some randomly chosen amount of money to a Bitcoin, or other cryptocurrency account.

Honestly, all you need to do is spend 15 seconds looking this kind of thing up to get the answer.

Linz23deport wrote:

This just happened to me an hour ago. Requesting money or a video will be released.

It’s a scam.

If the scammers had the compromising info they claim and not spamming based on some database dump such as from AT&T or some other data breach, they’d show it to you.

If you want to see which services leaked your email address, enter it here: https://haveibeenpwned.com

Might want to adjust your current trust and credulousness settings to values more appropriate for 2024, too.

lewisp002 wrote:

is this definitely a hoax? the pegasus spy ware software is real apparently

Of course it is a scam. You should also be aware of the many other emails, messages, or calls that are meant to turn over your money to them. By clicking a link in a message/email or responding at all to any of them will instantly mark you as a target, since it will then be known that you will believe these scams. You can then expect to receive many more of these type of scams. In an effort to help educate you on the practice of these criminals, I have included a couple other examples:

• A person may call you claiming to be a FBI agent or Police Officer claiming you have a warrant for arrest and the only way to avoid being arrested is to immediately purchase Gift Cards and send them the codes.
• You may receive a call that a foreign Prince has died and the family needs to move the money into a US bank account. They claim to pay you a percentage if you allow them to transfer it to your account.
• You may receive a fake invoice claiming you have made a large purchase and will include a phone number to cancel the purchase. They just want your personal/financial information.

Here are some more examples:

https://blog.usecure.io/the-most-common-examples-of-a-phishing-email