“I have an important update that might be startling” is an ongoing email fraud campaign that scares recipients who receive the mail. Its contents advise you to pay a sizable sum of money to a cryptocurrency wallet in exchange for the security of having your files kept from the public.
An email is merely a form of blackmail or a ransom note that asks recipients to pay money in return for their safety and privacy. However, since there is no concrete proof that the senders of these emails possess recipients’ private photos and data, it is most likely a hoax and users should not believe whatever these scammers say.
Numerous variations of frightening emails are used in this type of fraud, which has been going around for years, to fool users into complying with the demands of the fraudsters.
Additionally, these scammers frequently attempt to assume the identity of a bank, governmental agency, or other company to support their allegations. In some rare instances, the words might even contain your name to make you believe they are real.
What to do after receiving the “I have an important update that might be startling” email?
The first thing you need do is to calm yourself because, even though it may appear genuine, it is merely fake and intended to deceive you.
Reporting the sender’s email will allow the address to eventually be blocked and the offender to be identified through an investigation by your country’s cybercrime enforcement agency.
For United States Citizens: You may email spam@uspis.gov or mail the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) at their official website.
For United Kingdom Citizens: You may visit Actionfraud.police.uk and file a report or call their number via 0300 123 2040.
For France Citizens: You may file your report via the Service-Public.fr website.
For Australian Citizens: You can use ReportCyber to file a report or call the Australian Cyber Security Hotline at 1300 292 371.
For Canadian Citizens: Contact the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre or call their number 1-888-495-8501.
After that, you should block the email address of the sender to ensure that you don’t continue to receive further emails from them.
You should do a malware scan just in case to make sure your device isn’t genuinely infected and that no hackers have accessed your accounts or your data.
We recommend using Malwarebytes Anti-malware because we have determined that it can remove most types of malicious threats when we conducted malware tests.
Malwarebytes also offers a free 14-day trial when you download it for the first time, so you might want to use the remaining time of the trial to test out the premium features.
1 Click the button above to download the latest version of Malwarebytes Anti-malware.
2 Open the installation file after the download and follow the procedure shown.
3 After following the software setup instructions, wait for the application to finish installing.
4 Once the application is installed, you may now run your first computer scan and wait for it to finish.
5 All discovered malware on the computer will be displayed on the screen, and you can eliminate them by pressing the “quarantine” button.
Any malware that might have been lurking on your system has been removed, and any changes it made to the system have been reversed. You could ensure that your device is virus-free once more.
Final Thoughts
Even after taking the necessary precautions, it can be very unsettling to have scam email messages that can trick users into sending a large amount of money.
This is why we suggest browsing safely and not entering your email address on random text fields because that is most likely the cause of why you receive such emails.
