Ashley Madison cheats exposed by blackmailer in letters to wives

Wives of men who used the extramarital dating site and refused to pay a blackmailer have received letters.

The personal information of millions of Ashley Madison users was leaked online in 2015.

The wives of men who refused to pay a blackmailer after being exposed as members of Ashley Madison have received letters detailing their partner’s activities on the extramarital dating website.

Several letters have been sent to the partners of individuals whose names were among the 37.6 million leaked online after a hacking attack last year.

The letters begin: “Dear Mrs [husband’s surname], I am afraid I have some bad news.” Nude pictures, details of sexual fantasies and other information was hacked from Ashley Madison last July and posted on the web in August. About 1.2 million users of the site, which brings together married men and women under the banner “life is short - have an affair”, are thought to be in Britain. [The website says they have over 460,000 Australian members]

Several members of Ashley Madison received blackmail letters in the weeks after the leak. They demanded a payment - usually $2,000 (US) - in bitcoin, the digital currency. The targets were warned that failure to pay meant that their partners would be told about their membership. Blackmail targets who did not pay their ransoms have discovered letters in recent weeks addressed to their wives detailing their membership of Ashley Madison.

The letters say: “I am sorry to tell you that [your partner] 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. I’m a crook, but I’m not a liar.”

The blackmailer also includes a message to husbands who might intercept the letter before it reaches their wife. “Naughty boy, reading someone else [sic] mail is crime,” it says. “If you do not wish me to wreak further havoc upon your lives then send $2,500 in bitcoin.”

The blackmail letters have emerged in the US but Graham Cluley, the security researcher who uncovered them, said that there was a risk of copycat attacks in Britain.

A man who found a letter addressed to his wife said: “Luckily I checked the mail today and recognised the basic envelope and font that this person is using so I was able to catch it before my wife did. It scared the crap out of me.”

The Times