There is a new email sextortion scam that is extorting users with the pretext that their email accounts were hacked and they have been recorded watching “dirty videos”. In other words, a new blackmail scam is circling the web, this time using the name of Jeanson J. Ancheta. It is noteworthy that Jeanson J. Ancheta is a well-known hacker and the first person to be charged for controlling large numbers of botnets.
The scammers seem to be relying on users checking the name that appears in the sextortion message. Seeing that the name belongs to a real-life hacker increases the chances of the victim paying. So, if you receive an email that appears to be sent by Jeanson J. Ancheta, claiming that “around 10 months ago I hacked this email address“, know that it is just another scam.
Threat Summary
| Name | Jeanson J. Ancheta scam |
| Type | Email Scam Message |
| Short Description | A scam that tries to scare you into paying a ransom fee for a supposed breach of your email account credentials. The scammer also claims that he has recorded you watching dirty videos. |
| Symptoms | You receive an email message that tries to trick you into thinking that your email account got compromised, and there are recordings of you watching adult content. |
| Distribution Method | Email Spam Messages, Suspicious Sites |
| Detection Tool |
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| User Experience | Join Our Forum to Discuss Jeanson J. Ancheta scam. |
Jeanson J. Ancheta Scam – Update October 2019
Another example of a scam that uses the name and reputation of famous hackers is the so-called WannaCry Hacker Scam that uses the “Keep your secrets safe” subject line.
This is a scareware tactic seen in a number of sextortion-based scams that claim to have recordings of users while watching adult content. In this case, the alleged WannaCry hackers state they are “aware of your intimate adventures on the Internet“.
Jeanson J. Ancheta Scam: Details
Here’s what the Jeanson J. Ancheta scam message says (with all the typing and grammatical errors):
Around 10 months ago, I hacked this email address. You can check it. I am sending this email from your email address now, I injected my code to this device and I started to monitor your activity. My first idea was to block and encyript your files. And than I would ask for a small fee to release them back. But than one day, You visited some dirty websites. You kow what I mean naughty thing. And I silently activated your front camera and recorded you. Now, I stole contact list of yourself. I have all the friends list. A lot of information is downloaded to my system. I am asking from you a small fee of 75o USD. If you don’t pay, all the naughty screen videos will be sent to your friends and family. I will distribute them to everywhere. Send the amount to my bitcoin address: [numbers and lettrs] I give you 36 hours to complete the transfer. When you open that message, I will know it and the countdown starts.
Why Did You Receive the Jeason J. Ancheta Sextortion Scam?
The Jeanson J. Ancheta scam message may appear to be sent from your own email address. This means that your email address was spoofed. Such scams usually claim that the recipient’s email was hacked, and that’s why the email appears to be sent from it. However, this is not true and you should not worry about your account being hacked.
The truth is that spam operators have been spoofing email addresses for a long time. In the past, spammers got hold of email lists with the help of computers infected by malware. Nowadays, phishing has evolved to such an extent that spammers can phish carefully chosen victims with messages that look like they came from friends, trustworthy sources, or even their own account.
The tools that enable email spoofing are surprisingly easy to get. All you need is a working SMTP server which is a server that can send email, and the right mailing software, LifeHacker’s author Alan Henry explains.
Furthermore, any mail server can be configured to send from a specific domain, and there are even websites that will let you send emails using any email address for free. It should be noted that these methods leave traces that give spoofing away. That’s why it is important to learn how to read email headers.
Note that showing your email headers depends on the email provider. For Gmail, open the email and click on the three vertical dots next to the reply arrow and select “Show Original” to revise the details.
Other reasons for receiving scam messages such as the Jeanson J. Ancheta scam include your email being compromised in a data breach, or harvested along with thousands of other emails. However, the chance that your system was indeed infected by malware also exists.
This option should not be overlooked, especially if you have opened a suspicious email attachment or clicked on an unknown link. Phishing can lead to various outcomes, including the exposure of personal accounts.
The funny thing is that all popular 2019 phishing scams are also deployed via email messages as the main distribution tactic. The recipients are usually sent messages that are disguised as legitimate notifications from a service, program, product or another party concerning a certain type of interaction which is required. Most of the times the scams are related to account activity, fraud transactions or password reset reminders.
All of these may be legitimate reasons for sending out activity messages and as such can easily be confused with the real notifications. In almost all cases similar sounding domain names and security certificates (self-signed, stolen or hacker-issued) will be implemented in the landing pages to confuse the recipients that they are visiting a safe site.
If you have interacted with such a phishing message, your accounts may have been compromised, email accounts included. Your financial details may be at risk, as well. So it may be a good idea to scan your system for spyware or malware.
A simple solution
Since all recent extortion-based scams, such as the Jeanson J. Ancheta scam, are relying on purported recordings of the recipient watching adult content, simply cover up your laptop’s camera. This may sound silly but knowing that your camera is covered leaves no place for you to worry, regardless of the scammer’s claims.
Another simple thing you can do to avoid email harvesting (where scammers and third parties harvest email addresses in bulk) is the so-called email address munging, or simply changing the “@” sign into “at” and the “.” into “dot”. This is especially valid for individuals with business emails that are visible to the entire internet.
And once again, no matter how persuasive the email you received sounds, don’t fall for it because it is a scam.
Remove Jeanson J. Ancheta Scam
To remove the Jeanson J. Ancheta scam, you should simply delete the email message. However, there is always the option that you were indeed breached or hacked. If you suspect this to be true, you should see the step-by-step removal instructions provided below. In case you cannot get rid of any files related to the Jeanson J. Ancheta scam or find out other malicious ones, you should search for and remove any leftover malware pieces with an advanced anti-malware tool. Software like that will keep your system secure in the future.
Milena Dimitrova
An inspired writer and content manager who has been with SensorsTechForum since the project started. A professional with 10+ years of experience in creating engaging content. Focused on user privacy and malware development, she strongly believes in a world where cybersecurity plays a central role. If common sense makes no sense, she will be there to take notes. Those notes may later turn into articles! Follow Milena @Milenyim
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- Guide 1: How to Remove Jeanson J. Ancheta scam from Windows.
- Guide 2: Get rid of Jeanson J. Ancheta scam from Mac OS X.
- Guide 3: Remove Jeanson J. Ancheta scam from Google Chrome.
- Guide 4: Erase Jeanson J. Ancheta scam from Mozilla Firefox.
- Guide 5: Uninstall Jeanson J. Ancheta scam from Microsoft Edge.
- Guide 6: Remove Jeanson J. Ancheta scam from Safari.
- Guide 7: Eliminate Jeanson J. Ancheta scam from Internet Explorer.
Windows Mac OS X Google Chrome Mozilla Firefox Microsoft Edge Safari Internet Explorer
How to Remove Jeanson J. Ancheta scam from Windows.
Step 1: Boot Your PC In Safe Mode to isolate and remove Jeanson J. Ancheta scam
Step 2: Uninstall Jeanson J. Ancheta scam and related software from Windows
Here is a method in few easy steps that should be able to uninstall most programs. No matter if you are using Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista or XP, those steps will get the job done. Dragging the program or its folder to the recycle bin can be a very bad decision. If you do that, bits and pieces of the program are left behind, and that can lead to unstable work of your PC, errors with the file type associations and other unpleasant activities. The proper way to get a program off your computer is to Uninstall it. To do that:
Follow the instructions above and you will successfully uninstall most programs.
Step 3: Clean any registries, created by Jeanson J. Ancheta scam on your computer.
The usually targeted registries of Windows machines are the following:
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
- HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce
- HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce
You can access them by opening the Windows registry editor and deleting any values, created by Jeanson J. Ancheta scam there. This can happen by following the steps underneath:
Tip: To find a virus-created value, you can right-click on it and click "Modify" to see which file it is set to run. If this is the virus file location, remove the value.
Before starting "Step 4", please boot back into Normal mode, in case you are currently in Safe Mode.
This will enable you to install and use SpyHunter 5 successfully.
Windows Mac OS X Google Chrome Mozilla Firefox Microsoft Edge Safari Internet Explorer
Get rid of Jeanson J. Ancheta scam from Mac OS X.
Step 1: Uninstall Jeanson J. Ancheta scam and remove related files and objects
1. Hit the ⇧+⌘+U keys to open Utilities. Another way is to click on “Go” and then click “Utilities”, like the image below shows:
- Go to Finder.
- In the search bar type the name of the app that you want to remove.
- Above the search bar change the two drop down menus to “System Files” and “Are Included” so that you can see all of the files associated with the application you want to remove. Bear in mind that some of the files may not be related to the app so be very careful which files you delete.
- If all of the files are related, hold the ⌘+A buttons to select them and then drive them to “Trash”.
In case you cannot remove Jeanson J. Ancheta scam via Step 1 above:
In case you cannot find the virus files and objects in your Applications or other places we have shown above, you can manually look for them in the Libraries of your Mac. But before doing this, please read the disclaimer below:
You can repeat the same procedure with the following other Library directories:
→ ~/Library/LaunchAgents
/Library/LaunchDaemons
Tip: ~ is there on purpose, because it leads to more LaunchAgents.
Step 2: Scan for and remove Jeanson J. Ancheta scam files from your Mac
When you are facing problems on your Mac as a result of unwanted scripts and programs such as Jeanson J. Ancheta scam, the recommended way of eliminating the threat is by using an anti-malware program. SpyHunter for Mac offers advanced security features along with other modules that will improve your Mac’s security and protect it in the future.
Windows Mac OS X Google Chrome Mozilla Firefox Microsoft Edge Safari Internet Explorer
Remove Jeanson J. Ancheta scam from Google Chrome.
Step 1: Start Google Chrome and open the drop menu
Step 2: Move the cursor over "Tools" and then from the extended menu choose "Extensions"
Step 3: From the opened "Extensions" menu locate the unwanted extension and click on its "Remove" button.
Step 4: After the extension is removed, restart Google Chrome by closing it from the red "X" button at the top right corner and start it again.
Windows Mac OS X Google Chrome Mozilla Firefox Microsoft Edge Safari Internet Explorer
Erase Jeanson J. Ancheta scam from Mozilla Firefox.
Step 1: Start Mozilla Firefox. Open the menu window
Step 2: Select the "Add-ons" icon from the menu.
Step 3: Select the unwanted extension and click "Remove"
Step 4: After the extension is removed, restart Mozilla Firefox by closing it from the red "X" button at the top right corner and start it again.
Windows Mac OS X Google Chrome Mozilla Firefox Microsoft Edge Safari Internet Explorer
Uninstall Jeanson J. Ancheta scam from Microsoft Edge.
Step 1: Start Edge browser.
Step 2: Open the drop menu by clicking on the icon at the top right corner.
Step 3: From the drop menu select "Extensions".
Step 4: Choose the suspected malicious extension you want to remove and then click on the gear icon.
Step 5: Remove the malicious extension by scrolling down and then clicking on Uninstall.
Windows Mac OS X Google Chrome Mozilla Firefox Microsoft Edge Safari Internet Explorer
Remove Jeanson J. Ancheta scam from Safari.
Step 1: Start the Safari app.
Step 2: After hovering your mouse cursor to the top of the screen, click on the Safari text to open its drop down menu.
Step 3: From the menu, click on "Preferences".
Step 4: After that, select the 'Extensions' Tab.
Step 5: Click once on the extension you want to remove.
Step 6: Click 'Uninstall'.
A pop-up window will appear asking for confirmation to uninstall the extension. Select 'Uninstall' again, and the Jeanson J. Ancheta scam will be removed.
Windows Mac OS X Google Chrome Mozilla Firefox Microsoft Edge Safari Internet Explorer
Eliminate Jeanson J. Ancheta scam from Internet Explorer.
Step 1: Start Internet Explorer.
Step 2: Click on the gear icon labeled 'Tools' to open the drop menu and select 'Manage Add-ons'
Step 3: In the 'Manage Add-ons' window.
Step 4: Select the extension you want to remove and then click 'Disable'. A pop-up window will appear to inform you that you are about to disable the selected extension, and some more add-ons might be disabled as well. Leave all the boxes checked, and click 'Disable'.
Step 5: After the unwanted extension has been removed, restart Internet Explorer by closing it from the red 'X' button located at the top right corner and start it again.
