The Ashley Madison controversy stirred the whole world when it broke out in July. The latest on the subject is that former clients of the adultery website are now facing online extortions.
A Sept. 21 report from City News told the story of a man named "Bob" (real identity withheld) from the Greater Toronto Area who reported to authorities he is a victim of online extortion in relation to the Ashley Madison scandal.
Over the past week, Bob reported that he has received two emails purportedly coming from the team behind the hack, The Impact Group, which stated a demand for two Bitcoins. One Bitcoin is equivalent to $302 Canadian dollars.
The email went on to threaten that if Bob refuses to pay, his private details will be sent over to his home address and shared all over Facebook for his family and friends to see.
In a separate report from ZDnet, a man who goes by the name of "Tom" reached out to the publication to reveal a blackmailing incident.
Tom said that the email also threatened to expose his transaction records with the online dating site if he refuses to send two Bitcoins.
Tom and Bob's cases became more common after the Ashley Madison hack happened. CNN Money reported extortions to be the latest effect of the massive data dump on the dark web.
The information eventually found its way to the open web for anyone to download. Victims not only face problems of extortion but also identity theft, since the data consisted of personal information such as home addresses and credit card information.
Meanwhile, both Tom and Bob, although they've felt genuinely threatened, refused to pay up and give in to the threats, according to reports. Both former Ashley Madison account holders have yet to see what the consequences will be for not giving in to the blackmail.
