Read The Ashley Madison Blackmail Letters: Wives Of Cheating Husbands Who Didn’t Pay $2,000 Get Letters At Home
The Ashley Madison hack fallout continues, with wives of the cheating husbands whose names were exposed in the Ashley Madison hack reportedly receiving letters in the mail. The letters are finding their way to the homes of the wives because the Ashley Madison hack exposed names, addresses, and more information for those that appeared in the database hack.
“I am afraid this letter contains bad news,” reads the Ashley Madison blackmail letters that have been sent to the homes of wives in the U.S.
After claiming that the husbands involved in the Ashley Madison scandal refused to pay 1,420 British Pounds — which equals $2,017.39 USD as of this writing — the letters being sent to the wives of Ashley Madison cheaters who claim they will also expose the cheating men to friends and family.
Although deemed as cheaters, the Ashley Madison hack victims have long filled forums and Reddit comment sections claiming that they aren’t necessarily cheaters. Plenty of those who had their Ashley Madison information exposed have admitted to only signing up to the “cheaters” website out of curiosity, with many of them claiming that they never actually met anyone. Those who did “chat” with women on Ashley Madison were discovered in many cases to have been chatting with a female bot, since Ashley Madison was exposed as having lots of fake female profiles. Some were generated by former Ashley Madison employees, while others were generated automatically.
Nevertheless, as reported by the Daily Mail, the letters going out to Ashley Madison hack victims’ wives stated that those blackmail letters were a result of the husbands not willing to cough up the $2,000 or more that the blackmailers had previously requested. Lots of those men likely refused to pay blackmailers either because their information was already exposed on the web, they didn’t have the monies, or didn’t trust the blackmailers to keep their info secret from their wives once they paid up.
The blackmail letters go on to expose the Ashley Madison users — at least those blackmail letters that were able to find their way to the home addresses and not get intercepted by anyone before the wives got them. The letters state that the husbands must’ve thought the blackmailers wouldn’t call the husbands’ bluff — or they dig deep at his cheapness or poorness and say that the dignity of the wife wasn’t worth the blackmail money payment. The threats go on to say that the Ashley Madison members will be exposed further to family and friends of the couple.
The blackmail letter begins by explaining the Ashley Madison hacking and then tries to extort even more money from the Ashley Madison victims via Bitcoin. The blackmailers up the ante by demanding $2,500 in payment in order to keep the person’s Ashley Madison participation a secret from family and friends.
“Perhaps you remember hearing in the news this past summer about a website called Ashley Madison being hacked…I am sorry to tell you that [your Ashley Madison-using husband] is a member of that adultery website. You, and some people you know, will be hearing from me via electronic communication in the near future with links and detailed instructions on how to confirm what I am telling you.
“A while back I sent [your Ashley Madison-using husband] a letter telling him if he did not send me $2,000 I would reveal his secret to you. Well, he didn’t pay. Either he thought I was bluffing or he decided to man up and tell you the truth. If he told you the truth I can respect that, but you should probably go ahead and prepare your friends and family for the impending communications from me.
“I told [your Ashley Madison-using husband] that if he didn’t pay I would be telling not only you but others close to you about his misdeeds. I guess your dignity wasn’t worth $2,000 to him. Yes, that is more money than I initially asked. The additional money is the penalty for making me ask twice. I realise the conventional wisdom is not to pay blackmailers because they will just come back at you for more. That is generally good advice. But hopefully this letter has shown you that I do things a bit differently.”
Although the blackmail letters started in America, Britain is likely next in the Ashley Madison extortion scheme. The Ashley Madison hacking exposed big and famous names and was even blamed for at least more than one suicide. With sexual fantasies and payment information being exposed in the Ashley Madison hack, the leak was quite devastating to plenty of users.
The blackmail letters ended with the notion that the wives would likely show the blackmail letters to their husbands, and as such, the blackmailers had a special message for the Ashley Madison-using husband.
“Hey [husband]! You probably thought I forgot about you, didn’t you? I told you missing the deadline would only bring you misery. I am sure you assumed I was just sending out multiple form letters hoping some small percent would pay up and that I wouldn’t actually waste time and money on going through with my threat. Well, you were half right. I’m a crook, but I’m not a liar.”
Avid Life Media Inc., the company that operates AshleyMadison.com, has still kept the Ashley Madison website running and claimed that more people have joined the site since the hack.
Ashley Madison Hack Update: Journalist Grapples With Publishing Ashley Madison Names
[Photo by Eugene Hoshiko/File/AP]
