People across metro receiving threatening emails with personal info, pictures of their home

ATLANTA — People across the metro say they are getting threatening emails demanding money, and also contain your personal information, as well as pictures of your own home.

“It’s important you pay attention right now. Take a moment to breathe,” that’s how the email started.

But what caught Lonnie Ross’ attention was the picture attached of his front yard and mailbox.

“It’s like someone close by, you know? So walking down my street, driving a car so they ride up on me,” Ross told Channel 2 consumer investigator Justin Gray.

Along with the photo, the email also contained other personal and identifying information.

“It had my phone number, my address, email, my name. And what really got me, they took a picture of my mailbox,” Ross said.

Channel 2 Action News has heard from multiple viewers receiving similar threat emails this month.

The emails warn they have access to your devices and are gathering personal information after you click on malware online.

The criminals demand a $2,000 ransom to be paid in Bitcoin.

“It’s very well written, very convincing,” said cybersecurity researcher Willis McDonald.

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He said the criminals do not have access to your devices like they claim.

The pictures are coming from Google Street View. However, it is likely the criminals do have the information they used in the email because of data breaches.

“This is a direct result of something like that, where your data has been breached. It’s got your phone number, your email, your name,” McDonald said.

He also said AI functions like Chat GPT have made these scam emails a lot better and the schemes a lot more sophisticated.

“By using things like AI tools, they’re able to make more convincing letters. They’re able to make, you know, revisions on the fly really quick,” McDonald said.

The Federal Trade Commission says cryptocurrency complaints to the FBI increased by 45% in just one year.

There were more than 69,000 complaints in 2023, totaling more than $5.6 billion in losses.

To better protect your privacy, you can easily request on Google Street View that your home be blurred out.

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